The speech of the Minister Elva Margariti on the occasion of the inclusion of jubilees in UNESCO

The ceremony held in the Palace of Brigades

December 20, 2022

It’s magical how this costume can so gracefully transform a woman into a fairy and a formal setting into a log cabin…

The corridors of the Ministry of Culture were filled with the dancing of jubilates, with the rhythm of the drum and the lute, and the building of the former Kinostudio had never looked more beautiful to us…

They are from Malësia e Madhe, Kelmendi, Shkodra, Tirana, Librazhdi, even from Sweden and Egypt, from distant Japan and, Kazakhstan, to Cameroon and the United States of America…

Women and girls of all ages who rejoiced with us at the announcement of the Jubilee as the property of all humanity under the protection of UNESCO.

Now jubilation is not only ours!

It was such a pure, natural joy, like a beautiful temptation to participate in an almost mystical ritual.

Because thedress of jubilation has not only an order, but also a code, which sews that perfect harmony between the elements, none similar to each other, but as the women of the Highlands say, without one of them, jubleta, it is no longer jubleta.

It often happens that in the course of life we take many things for granted and it is too late when we sadly see that time has moved faster than us,and has taken with it and expensive, beloved things… and of them only the frame of memory is left..

Today we see this hall filled with waves of jubilation, but tomorrow it could remain nothing more than a nostalgic grandmother’s story.

Faced with this danger we rushed to catch up on lost time, turning the rescue of jubilate into a mission.

An impossible mission, if we were alone.

I feel lucky that many friends joined us, so even today I extend my heartfelt thanks to the expertswho drafted the winning file at UNESCO: Luljeta, Dorina, Dorian, Ermal, To Jonida, Silvana, Tamara, the expert from Croatia.

Thanks to our good partners Albanian American Foundation for Development, who joined us in a real marathon of drafting four files of our intangible heritage, where opened the first path.

Good luck and good omen for other files!

Thanks to every researcher and collector who has dedicated his life to this wonderful garment, which today is under the protection of UNESCO.

Butcoming under the protection of UNESCO is not a decoration, it is not even the successful completion of a mission, but it is its beginning, which we will carry forward with the assistance and UNESCO funding.

I very much hope that with the unsparing help of all of you who are here today.

Being a part of the cause for saving jubilate learning is not support for the Ministry of Culture, but for these women and girls who have kept this creation alive in centuries, from grandmother, to mother, to daughter…

The greatest thanks goes to those, who have passed on the art of knowledge, without knowing that they were guarding a rare treasure of all humanity, because for them to weave jubilation came naturally, it was born together with life.

So this evening also belongs first to them and then to us, who should call ourselves lucky to have the opportunity to realize thedream that jubilation transcends time and space, as a never sleeping beauty.

Always Jubleta, with the cycles of her life, from birth to death, has always seemed like a woman to me!

Strong and stable like Albanian women, faced with so many challenges that this small country of ours has gone through quite a bit; unifying like our mothers, who kept the family together, this value that modern times are undoing,

yet they continue to hold it fast, like the 16 threads of jubilation; unstoppable to go forward, to overcome any difficulties; unique and elegant in modesty;

magical in its beauty!

During the whole process of drafting the file, according to the strict rules of UNESCO, the stories of the women who narrated their lives between the Highlands and the work of jubilation remained indelible.

The story of Tole Lekaj Berisha, the 96-year-old from Tuzi who is still working the jublet;

The story of Lena Linadi, who entered as a bride in a jubilee dress and still today wears her grandmother’s 200-year-old dress;

of File Kola from Shkodra whose hands speak more than words; Leze Pjetër Gjinajt from Vraka, Drane Rukajt who has “embroidered” the jubilee bell ornaments in his mind and fanatically preserves the dress he made himself when he was 17 years old, in 1959; Rita, who knows the Highlands like the back of his hand, tries every day to keep learning alive; Florina who brought us a piece of the Highlands at the opening of this reception; of Edlira who brought jubilation to the capital; of Aphrodite who dedicated her life to her study and did not let us make mistakes in the order of dress;

For those women and girls who have jubilee not just as a legacy of ancestors, but a way of life.

They are inspiring stories that encourage us to take other initiatives to preserve and enhance our spiritual wealth. An invitation addressed to everyone who is here today, to protect what is ours and makes us unique. It is this moment that everyone who is here is not just a passive spectator;

It is the moment that theMinistry of Culture shares its mission with you, to be actors through a concrete contribution to help these women and girls, which we are lucky to have.

Initiatives that actually require above alla long-term vision, where culture is the headline and not an ornament left in a corner, as it has been for many years.

So I thank Prime Minister Rama for supporting us at every step, with the common belief that beauty will save the world!