Traditions & Customs

A stall in an Ottoman-era market, full of glazed pottery.

Anto's Clay

A legend of the Barkić line, Oćevija's potters, who over three generations shaped ever more perfect vessels from Fox Hill clay — until, so it's said, Anto's jug rang out in the marketplace of Istanbul.

An elder swings a wooden mallet over a turtle resting on a stone slab, while a bride and groom and villagers in traditional dress look on.

The Turtle's Shell

A legend of Oćevija's wedding-eve custom of breaking a turtle's shell — a superstition said to have turned back an aga's horsemen on a night in 1643.