The Island of Susak

Diane Picinic
Croatian 372: Essay
Professor Vinko Grubisic
April 2, 2007 (Revised August 2011)
 

Introduction

Susak: the Island of Sand, Reed and Vineyards is both a book and a place that can attract a variety of audiences from around the world.  Some people who may wish to learn more about the island of Susak may include former inhabitants, current inhabitants, people of Susak ancestry, tourists, and curious others.  Much has changed on Susak since Susak: the Island of Sand, Reed and Vineyards has been published more than 10 years ago in 1998.  There are new statistics of birth, death, and tourists rates, along with new events that have occurred.  Not only is there missing information in that 10 year gap, but there may also be past historical events that occurred in Susak which were never recorded.  The objective of this essay is to present information from the research of the text and also from a few personal experiences.  An analysis of Turčić’s book will reveal the important information, research, and facts about Susak.

The author of Susak: the Island of Sand, Reed and Vineyards is Don Antun Turčić.  He was born in Sušak in 1939.  He was a priest in other areas of Croatia before he became a priest on Susak.  Turčić mentioned in his introduction: “there is still so much that we don’t know about this island” and “[t]he research is still in its start” (117).  Such as any place in the world, Susak has a rich history still to discover.

Geography of Susak

Otok Susak is a small, open-sea island located in the Kvarner bay section in the northern Adriatic Sea.  Susak is an islet made of sand and it is still unknown as to how the sand evolved on the island.  The neighboring islands of Susak consist of Male and Vele Srakane, Mali and Veli Lošinj, Ilovik, and Unije.  There are ships that make trips to the surrounding islands and to Rijeka.  In Susak there are two parts of the settled village area known to the inhabitants.  Mul is the lower village and selo is the upper village, which can be reached by stairs.  A person can walk around the island in about four hours or hop on a small boat, which may take about two hours.

History and Occupancy of Susak

Susak has been inhabited and governed by many different governments.  It is known that the first people living on Susak were the Illyrians.  There are no finds of Greek settlement, even though the Greeks did sail up to Susak and the neighboring islands.  Before the birth of Christ, the Romans came to the Kvarner area.  In the 10th century AD, Susak and the other surrounding islands became a part of the state of Croatia under King Tomislav.  Turčić states: “After that short period the island witnesses the change of government: Byzantine, Venetian, Croatian, Ugro-Croatian and finally falls under several centuries long Venetian administration” (123).  From the 11th to 13th century Susak belonged to Benedictine monks.  Susak was under the Osor diocese since the ancient times.  From the years 1409 to 1797 the Venetians had Susak under their rule, and Susak still belonged to the Osor diocese.  The Austrian government took Susak under its rule for a short period after the Venetian rule, and then Susak became part of the Napoleon Illyria.  From 1814 to 1918 Susak belonged to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

In 1920, Susak was affected by the Rapal Treaty.  The Rapal Treaty meant that the island would be under the authority of Italy.  The Italian rule lasted until September 8, 1943.  The areas that went under Italian authority included: Rijeka, Cres, Lošinj, Susak, Srakane, and Ilovik.  Zadar and Lastovo also went under the Italian occupation.  After Italian occupation, Susak was under Tito’s Partisans administration and then, until 1945, under German military occupation.  Susak became a part of Yugoslavia under the Partisan peace treaty, known as the Treaty of Versailles, in 1947.  The various changes in government posed numerous questions about the island of Susak.

The Name Susak

One of the questions consisted of where Susak received its name from.  According to Latin and Italian documents there were many names given to the island of Susak.  A few Croatian men who tried figuring out where the name derived from were the historian, lawyer, and writer Vladimir Mažuranić and a man by the name of Petar Skok.  Mažuranić questioned if the name Susak really came from the word Sansego.  In Italian, sansegmeans marjoram, which is a plant or herb that is scarcely found on Susak anymore.  Skok believed Susak got its name from the Greek wordsampsyhon, which also means marjoram.  Italian documents describe Susak under the names of either Sansego or Sansigo.  It is not exactly obvious where the name Susak came from; however there are some ideas and clues as to where its name derived from. 

Schooling System

The history of the schooling system on Susak, and throughout Croatia, dramatically transformed along with the governments’ new straightforward systems.  The school system in Susak consisted of Austro-Hungarian, Italian, Yugoslavian, and Croatian.  Since all of the archival documents are missing there is not too much history to recognize about the school in Susak.  In 1843, Susak was introduced to the first school building, which was located in the yard of a house.  Turčić writes: “The national language was officially recognized in schools in 1848” (161).  Like the rest of the WesternEuropean cultures, the teacher was the priest who taught in Croatian.  Under the fascist Italian rule, Croatian and Slovenian schools were closed. Students were taught in Italian and the teachers had to know how to speak Italian in order to teach a class.  Turčić writes: “A lot of generations whoexclusively went through Italian educational system lost the insight into the national identity” (168).  Under Italian rule, students were told they were not allowed to speak Croatian in school or in their homes, and they must report to an authority figure if they heard any Croatian words.  Susak had the highest number of students during the Italian occupation, but it soon decreased after WWII.  The Italian occupation lasted between the years 1919-1944.  Under Tito’s Yugoslavian rule the schooling system was made up of Marxism, Leninism and Darwinism.  Since there was a smaller amount of students at this time, the school in Susak began uniting classes.  The new school building was built in 1929.  Till this day Susak still has the school building.  Due to past immigration there was a major decline in population and few students now attend the school.
 
Sveti Nikole, Merina and Veli Buoh

The topic of faith is one topic that does not prose as many questions or vagueness.  Turčić dedicates about 10 sections of his book to religious topics.  Since most of the people of Susak are Roman Catholic, they follow the Roman Catholic calendar and feast days of saints.  The parish on Susak is called Sveti Nikole (St. Nicholas).  The new parish church was built in 1770 in the same spot as the old church.  The current size of the church has not been extended, meaning it is the same size as the old church was in 1770.  However, the church has gone through a few changes.  One of the changes includes the bells in the church, which have been using electric power since 1996.  The church used to have a lot of statues and paintings until the renovation was completed.  Now there are only a few statues and paintings left.

While the Benedictine monks were on Susak they had their own cemetery, which eventually became the original cemetery.  Merina is the place where the cemetery was moved and where it currently is located.  Mrtvi zvuon is the bell that announces a death on the island and the rings last for 5 minutes.  The chapel located in merina is the Mournful Lady Chapel.  Instead of a place of worship it is used more as a morgue.  There is another chapel on Susak called Lady of Annunciation Chapel on Art.  This chapel was built in 1930 and is located in Punta Darto.  It was built as a gift to the holy mother Mary, whom the sailors from Čikat and Susak admired.  Susak became a parish in the year 1770.  There were many priests and nuns who were born on Susak.  Their names can be found in Susak record books.

Veli Buoh, a large wooden cross of Jesus, still remains as one of the greater mysteries on Susak.  Turčić wrote about the wooden cross: “It’s been on the island in the parish church from the time Susak hadn’t even been a parish but a property belonging to a Benedictine monastery – St. Nicholas Benedictine medieval abbey” (134).  The body of Jesus on this wooden cross is 8 feet tall, the cross itself is 14 feet tall and 7 feet wide.  An Osorbishop wanted to take Veli Buoh to the cathedral in Osor, but, while trying, the cross could not fit through the door.  The response to this, some would say, is that Veli Buoh “was destined ‘bil destion’ to stay on the island” (136).  Potarnak is the area where it is said that Veli Buoh was found.  (See map on pg. 16 for location of Potarnak.)  The legend is that the cross came from the coast opposite of Italy and sailed through the open sea.  In 1964,two restorers of the cross, Professor Bulić and Zvonimir Wyroubal, discovered that Veli Buoh represented a 12th century Romantic crucified Christ.  They noticed this when they removed its 5 or 7 coats of paint.  When the paint was removed from the eye area it turned out that the eyes of Jesus were opened, like the Romantic crucified Christ.  A newer addition to the cross is a thorny crown on the head that has not been removed.  Legend has it that every Romantic ancient cross in the towns of the coast have come by sea and have either bled or cried once.

Economy on Susak

Unlike Veli Buoh, it is no mystery that fishing and viniculture, or making wines, were the biggest sources of economy and work found on Susak.  In 1770, the agriculture was raising corn, and then it became viniculture and sheep breeding.  This system lasted between the late 1700’s till the 1820’s.  Viniculture and vegetable growing existed till the 1950’s.  Slowly disappearing was the development of corn raising and sheep breeding.  Old fields of vegetables have now turned into vineyards.  As vine pests destroyed many vineyards throughout Slovenia and the Adriatic, Susak’s sandy area delivered the island from being attacked.  Susak has many different vine sorts, which were dug into either white or black soil.  The inhabitants of Susak would trade their wine for items such as sheep cheese, olive oil, wood or wool.

On March 14th, 1991 part of the vineyards became known as “Vinarija Cosulich Susak.”  An Italian investor and vineyard owner named Francesco Cosulich became the owner.  In June 1993 Susak won the silver medal in a fair called “Wine in Croatia.”  Some vines that create wine, which could be found on Susak, from the past and present, include the following: Čarno grožje, Troišćina, Susac, Križol, Boltun, and Ranac (Turčić, 179).  The types of wine in Susak include black, red, white and table wine.

The influence of fishing came from a large amount and variety of fish found on Susak’s coast.  There were 12 net pullers who caught pilchards in the year 1801.  Some examples of fish that fishermen used to catch are pilchard (srdela), mackerel (skuša), needlefish (iglice), pickerels (menula), and squid (liganj).  The building for the fishing factory, called Ignio Mazzola, began in 1940.  There were 200 people employed in the factory.  In 1943, the factory was damaged after Susak’s first bombing and it stopped production.  The factory closed in 1964.  In the present day there are not as many employed fishermen as there once was.  Few people do still enjoy fishing while many inhabitants and tourists enjoy eating the fish.

 
Plants and Climate

The first known person to explore Susak was Abbot Alberto Fortis in the year 1770.  Other explorers of the island included: Josip Host in 1802, a botanist Tommasini in 1862, and another botanist Dragutin Hirc in 1903.  Tommasini and his scientific expedition found 192 different plants on the island.  Haračić is a botanist from Lošinj who studied the vegetation on Susak.  Unlike Tommasini’s assumption, Haračić said there were 359 different plants on Susak.  The main plant on the island is vine.  Grapevine is located in many places on the island that are visible to the eye.  The medical herbs on Susak consisted of: camomile, wormwood, gorčilo, perika, and mrižica.  Perika was used to heal kidneys and tuberculosis, whilegorčilo was used to heal intestinal worms.  Turčić stated: “Anyone who saw Susak 50 years ago would hardly recognize it today” (176).  Many vineyards have been abandoned, but Cosulich and his company have planted and maintained some of the vineyards on Susak.  Susak does not have a large number of species of animals, but there are sheep, goats, cats, reptiles and a number of birds and insects.

The different climates on Susak affect the crops and they are of Mediterranean climate.  The coldest month on Susak is January and the warmest is July.  The average temperature of the year is 15 degrees Celsius, or 59 degrees Fahrenheit.  Since it is in the open sea, the island is open to all sorts of winds.  North-eastern winds are called bura, and southern winds are called jugo.  The weather on Susak may differ from the weather on Lošinj; therefore the people in Susak have to always keep themselves up-to-date with the climate.
 
Culture of Susak

Susak has a particularly rich culture.  There is a dialect in the language of Susak, which consists of some Italian influence.  The people of Susak have their own songs, dances, instruments, costumes, folk customs and mythic folk stories.  Music on Susak can be found either in church singing or secular songs.  “Večeras je naša fešta” and “Sansego gradiću” are examples of two popular folk songs to the people of Susak.  Two folk instruments, which aren’t used anymore, include mušnice and svirale.  The instrument used now is the accordion.  The women’s costume of Susak is called po susacku, but it is known to the people of Susak as kamižoti.  The main parts of the costume are kamižot, which is a short skirt, and the bust, which is a vest that tightens the chest.  The costume also consists of a white cotton shirt, bust, bravaruol (tied under the neck), mudande (long linen underpants), pas (a sash) and kalcete (socks or slippers).  Kamižot is decorated with many colors, designs, and glitter, and it consists of a circular,flaring, pleated skirt.  The men’s national costume consists of a black hat, white collar shirt, black linen vest, a festive belt, black cut trousers and shoes.  It is similar to the island of Cres’ costume.  Both the women’s and men’s costumes are usually only worn for festive occasions.  The customs on Susak are traditionally religious.  Some foods popular to the people of Susak are loži (a type of pastry), makaruni and ribe (fish).  A mythic folk story on Susak is that “[o]ld inhabitants believe that darkness exists ‘on Obis’ and ‘on Puntina’.  Nobody should go there” (209).

Surnames of Susak

The surnames of Susak also seem to have a custom.  There are a limited number of last names that derive from Susak.  “The families of Pičinić, Taraboće, and Morin are the oldest on the island” (Turčić, 146).  There are 10 surnames that derive from Susak.  Some of the surnames include the following: Busanić, Hrončić, Lister, Matešić, Mirković, Morin, Picinić, Sutora, Skrivanić, and Tarabokija.  Inhabitants of the islands may also have other surnames that are not derived from Susak.  Depending on varying languages, many of these surnames can be spelled and pronounced in a variety of ways.  Usually people from Susak who immigrated to other countries changed the way of spelling and pronouncing their last names because of the accents in the Croatian alphabet.  The English version of pronouncing these last names eliminated the accents over the letters, such as the č, ć, and š sounds.  An example of different spellings and pronunciations of a last name is the surname Picinić.  This surname has been spelled in some of the following ways: Picinic, Piccinich, Piccinic, Piccini, and Picini.  The surname Matešić in the English version is Matesic or Mattessich.  In order to better identify with a certain family from Susak there are about 200 nicknames given to family surnames.  The nicknames of the families of Susak can be found in a book called Stato d’ Anime.
 
Immigration

Many people from Susak have immigrated to other countries.  From my knowledge these countries include the following: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, and, primarily, the Untied States.  By 1945, 1,025 people from Susak immigrated to the United States.  About 2,500 people from Susak live in the United States.  Many people from Susak also immigrated through Ellis Island.  A large amount of the families from Susak reside in New Jersey and in or around the surrounding New York City area. 

On April 18th, 1948, in his Hoboken home, John Matešić (Benjaminičić) created Društvo Svetoga Mikule od Suska (The Society of St. Mikula from Susak).  This society was created in order to aid the people who were immigrating from Susak to America with some of the problems they encountered.  The society has been located in Fairview, NJ since 1985.  In 1960, the Sansego Soccer Club was founded by 15 men from Susak in Hoboken, NJ.  This club showed its appreciation for the love of soccer; they planned trips back to Susak; and wanted to bring the young people together.  The Susak Klapa was a newer club, which was created because many people were moving from Hoboken, NJ to Fairview, NJ.  It was founded in 1981 and is still opened today.  This club holds almost the same responsibilities as the old club did, and they even plan occasional parties.  Even though many people immigrated to the USA, and other countries, they stay together and celebrate their island due to families, clubs, churches, and through Susak dinners and dances (Turčić, 153).
 
Tourism and Historical Information

Tourism has become very popular on the Adriatic coast, and even on Susak.  The population on Susak is lower compared to what it used to be, but the number of people reaches quite high when old inhabitants and tourists come to visit.  In the late 19th century there was a large amount of tourism flourishing on the neighboring island of Lošinj.  This meant that tourism and the economy would also begin to expand in Susak.  While Lošinj gained their tourism, they wanted more products from Susak, such as grapes, wine and fish.  Many tourists were attracted to the island of Susak.  Susak became a climatic bathing area in the early 1900’s when “Dr. Hajosa’s Sanitarium from Mali Lošinj recommends it to its patients and uses it as a healing sandy spa” (Turčić, 189).  The healing powers that Susak offers have been proved and are also uplifting for many people.  There were women who were unable to have children who visited Susak and its healing powers.  According to Turčić: “They gave birth to children after years of unsuccessful tryings at doctor’s surgeries around the world” (191).  Many people come to the island of Susak also to get away from the high stresses of their own daily lives.  It is simply a vacation spot for old inhabitants of Susak, their families, and for tourists around the world.  According to Turčić’s records, Susak’s number of tourists soared high in 1996 with 15,992 tourists.

Some historical information and former leaders have reached Susak.  In 1943, there was the first bombing on Susak.  In 1944, Susak was bombed nine more times by the English.  In 1953, Josip Broz Tito, former first president of Yugoslavia, went from Lošinj to Susak for a short visit on his yacht.   In 1994, former first Croatian president Franjo Tuđman gave the island a visit by helicopter from the islands of Brijuni.  “The president spoke with the people, visited the parish church and our immigrants and invited them to invest in the island’s development” (Turčić, 227).  In 1995, one year later, the waterfront on Susak was restored to better condition due to Franjo Tuđman’s visit.

Conclusion

Much can be said about the island of Susak.  A person can learn more about the island and its rich culture by reading Turčić’s book; however, one needs visit Susak in order to feel the experience of the island.  This experience includes the healing powers, the mystery, the fresh air, walking on the island, swimming, visiting the merina and even tasting the delicious food.  As Turčić mentioned in his introduction, Susak truly is an Adriatic jewel.
 
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Works Cited
Turčić, Don Antun.  Susak: the Island of Sand, Reed and Vineyards. Stuba, Zagreb: Župni ured Susak, 51561 Susak 514, 1998.
Personal photos of Susak taken in June 2005
Map of Susak from St. Nicholas parish church on Susak
Please note, statistics in this essay were taken from when the book was written in 1998.  Please contact the writer with any comments, questions, or concerns.

The End.