Welcome to the FOMKUD website
We hope
that with this website we will be able to inform the
Macedonian-Australian, and global community about the activities of FOMKUD.
The following is a general overview of our homeland
Macedonia,
and the situation that Macedonians were faced with when they
made the transition from pechalbari to become citizens
of their adoptive country, Australia.
Macedonia
is a real treasure of cultural riches, earning her the title
of the pearl of the Balkans. As a matter of fact,
Macedonia
was one of the foremost ancient civilizations, a fact which is
not very well known around the world. Macedonians settled here
more than 4,500 years ago. Since that time, many civilizations
and cultures have passed through the land, leaving traces of
their presence. The wealth of traditional folk art,
architecture and customs reflect the rich material and
spiritual culture of the Macedonian people that has been
nurtured here for many centuries. However both World Wars
devastated the region, and in some areas of occupied
Macedonia, harsh regimes meant that cultural expression was
limited. This saw Macedonians looking for new homes.
As
Australia was seen as a land of opportunity, many Macedonians
migrated to this great country in waves after the 1940's and
1960's. Many families brought nothing but a suitcase with
them, but what they lacked in monetary value, they certainly
didn't lack with their cultural heritage, possibly the richest
culture of all minorities in Australia. As time passed, the
number of Macedonians in Australia increased, which then
brought the need for cultural organizations to be established
to facilitate the growing demand for cultural folk dance to be
taught to the new generation of Macedonian-Australians in the
1970's and 1980's.
Since
then these organizations have continued to work hard in
teaching the art of the unique Macedonian folk dance and
music, which would not have been possible without the tireless
effort of the volunteers that run these Macedonian cultural
and artistic organizations.
"We the
Macedonians do not have pyramids and sphinxes, our fatherland
is not ornamented with palaces of material monuments, but
there is something that neither the centuries, nor the
elements or the demonic hands of the tyrants could
destroy...That unbreakable force is cast in one, sole
monument: the folk song and dance, the richest and most valued
inheritance left from the previous life and culture of the
Macedonians, preserved even to the present day"
Josif Cheshmedjiev 1924
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