Dance of Zalongo

The term Dance of Zalongo refers to an event in Albanian and Greek history, and to a popular dance song commemorating this event. During the war between the Souliotes and Ali Pasha, when the villages of Souli were being evacuated by the defeated population, a group of 22 Souliot women and their children were trapped by Ottoman troops in the mountains of Zalongo in Epirus, on 16 December 1803. In order to avoid capture and enslavement, they threw first their children and then themselves off a steep cliff, committing suicide. According to tradition they did this while dancing and singing, jumping down one after the other. There is also a popular dance song about the event, which is known and danced throughout the two countries today.

The incident became soon known in Europe. In 1827, a French artist, Ary Scheffer (1795–1858) created a Romantic picture depicting the event (The Souliot Women, now held in the Louvre in Paris).




Vaji i Zallogut ("Dance of Zalongo")
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
English

Mosko afoot, has left her baby in the ground,
Hits this woman, this brave woman,
Her gun and cannon everything scares.
"Look here girls, how close they are!"

Even walls became ash, but Dhespo1 as always stands up,
To her girls speaks, with voice and calamity.
"Girls, slaves of the Turkish can we be?
Follow me, girls, our place is down there!"



Albanian

Moskua në këmbë, foshnjën përdhe ka lënë,
Qëllon a s’qëllon kjo grua, deli grua,
Pushka top gjithçka zhurit.
"Vështrojuni një çikë more, si jeni bërë meit!"

Edhe muret u bënë hi, po Dhespua përherë në këmbë,
Nuseve ç’u thërret, me zë e me gjëmë.
“Skllave të turkut bija, a mund të bëhemi ne?
Pas meje, mori nuse, vendin e kemi atje!"

Dhespo is the wife of Giorgos Botsaris and Mosko was the wife of Lambros Tzavelas.