Reverence for the dead runs exceptionally deep among the peoples of the Balkans. Religious differences have set them against one another many times over the centuries, yet Balkan Christians, Catholic and Orthodox alike, as well as Muslims, all regard respect for the dead as a defining part of their identity.
History has often shaped and sustained this tradition, but we should not look to history for an alibi for our own mistakes. History, after all, is made by people.
