Šajkača
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The Šajkača (Serbian Cyrillic: шајкача) is the Serbian national hat, used by ethnic Serbs throughout former Yugoslavia that originated in the 18th century. It was originally worn by the Serbian river fleet in the service of the Habsburg Empire (known as the šajkaši) around the Danube and Sava Rivers. These men conducted small-scale raids against the Turks, thus allowing Serb refugees from the Ottoman Empire to safely flee to the Habsburg Empire. The refugees copied the design of the hat and spread it widely within the Serbian community.
The distinctive hat is recognisable by its top part that looks like the letter V or like the bottom of a boat (viewed from above), after which it got its name ("šajka"). It gained wide popularity in the early 20th century as it was the hat of the Serbian army in the First World War.
It has become the official hat of the Serbian Army, worn since the late 19th century, after World War I as the official hat of the Yugoslav Royal Army. After World War II, it was worn shortly in the new communist-Yugoslavia Army after World War II until it was replaced by "Titovka" cap (Some Serb Partisans did wear Šajkača though). It is worn everyday by some villagers today, and it was worn among Bosnian Serb military commanders during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.
During the 1999 Kosovo War, the Belgrade branch of the American fast food chain McDonald's used the hat to promote itself (somewhat improbably) as an authentically Serbian entity, by distributing posters and lapel buttons showing the famous golden arches written in Cyrillic alphabet and surmounted by a šajkača.
[edit] Use
The elderly ethnic Serbs in Serbia, especially in the villages, wear the hat on everyday basis. The Serbs of Montenegro use both the Šajkača and the Montenegrin hat, the Šajkača also being a political pro-Serb sign. The Šajkača is also used as a nationalistic symbol.
[edit] See also
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