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The Vratnica village is located in the
north-western part of the Republic of Macedonia, 22 km from
Tetovo,
and 5 km from the border crossing point with Serbia &
Montenegro (SCG). It is situated of an altitude of 680-750
meters above the sea level in the
upper part of the Polog valley & the foothills of one of the
most beautiful mountains in Macedonia,
Šar Planina.
Today there
are 500 people living in Vratnica, but early in the 20th
century it had more than 1,500. Most of the people do
agricultural work and cattle-breeding, but there is a
factory for pave & construction elements "IGM Vratnica", as
well other small companies. For 20 years know Vratnica has
telephones, electricity, asphalt roads, water-pipes to every
house. Many important facilities exist in the village:
house of the culture, church Sveta Petka (built in the
upper part of the village), motel, gas station, post office,
ambulance, primary school "Simče Nastovski", artificial lake
of Golina and it's fish-pond.
There are 18
neighborhoods in Vratnica: Stepanovci,
Šiškovci, Dlabočani, Koekjevci, Stanisovci, Vasilevci,
Golomevci, Danekjevci, Dobrokjevci, Peovci, Todorovci,
Kostanekjevci, Madzikjevci, Maškokjevci, Mojsikjevci,
Kraguljevci, Dabokjevci i Papudzini.
The citizens of Vratnica have a tradition of organizing a
football and basketball touring every year for the May
1st,
preparing grill and other national dishes for the May
2nd,
by the river Rakjita, then celebrating the Vasilica
holiday (January
14th), visiting Ljuboten
peak on the August
2nd
and village saint blessing -
Kostanovden on June 3rd.
Vratnica was
mentioned for the first time in 15th
century (1452-1453), and according
to the Turkish documents there were 59 families living in
it. According to legends about the origin of the term
Vratnica: the first legend, the citizens of the
village tried to escape from the Ottoman Turks by emigrating
on the north to, Kosovo & middle Serbia, but they were
forced to come back in the native village (come back on
Macedonian-vrakja=Vratnica). The other legend says that
Vratnica is as a Gate (Vrata=Vratnica), between the Kačanik
and Polog valley.
The Vratnica
people have started to emigrated to USA, Canada, Germany and
other countries in the world. It is estimated that there are
more than 3,500 people from this village have emigrated so far,
looking for a better lifestyle. The highest percentage of
them today live in Detroit, USA. The first man that
emigrated from Vratnica was Djero Antoski - Antić, in the
distant 1903.
 
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