ABOUT

The village Oshchima is located between the cities of Lerin and Kostour at the Prespa-Lerin intersection near the source of the river Bistritsa in northwestern Aegean Macedonia. The village lies at an elevation of 1020 meters above sea level and is nestled between Mount Bigla on the north, Mount Gomnoush on the east and by Mounts Lokma and Bodantsa on the west. To the north Oshchima borders the villages Zhelevo and Psoderi, to the east, Trsie and Statitsa, to the west, Besfina and Prespa, and to the south Trnaa.

Oshchima’s oldest historic accounts have been kept alive in the memories of the elders and passed on from generation to generation.

It has been said that the first inhabitants of Oshchima were Macedonian nomads who drifted there from other parts of Macedonia and settled. It is unknown how old the village is but families can be traced back to the beginning of the 18th century. By the turn of the 19th century there were 36 family groups (approximately 200 people) inhabiting the village. One or two families settled in Dolkoftsi, one in Padinie, one in Kalougerdol, two in Kirkoitcha, and the rest settled in Kashcherishche

FAMILY NAMES

Here is a list of family names which at one point lived in Oshchima (although it is NEVER complete).

In the first column is the original Macedonian version of the name. In many cases individuals and families that have emigrated to other countries have had their names 'localized' to the local language (in Australia/Canada/USA they have been shorted - Ivanov to Evans, Branov to Brown). In the European countries they have adjusted to include "-ski" or "-sky" (examples are Popovski from Popov, Mangovsky from Mangos).

In the second column is how it would be written in Macedonian (NOTE: you will need to have the "MAC C Times" Truetype font installed on your system to properly read it. For more information on how to get this done please visit Biser Balkanski - How To Install Macedonian fonts on your computer .

The third column is the Hellenized (ie. "Greek") version assigned by the Greek government in the years which followed the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913. In a majority of the cases the changes did not appear until after 1920. In many cases as with the village names, an attempt was made to spell the last names in the Greek alphabet sound-for-sound but it was later decided to make them sound more "Greek" (examples were "Dimov" to "Dimopoulos", "Iliev" to "Iliadis").

For those unaware, the Treaty of Bucharest "divided the spoils" of Macedonia amongst the three neighbouring countries - Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. Amongst the worst of what was to follow happened in Greece - family names were given "Greek" versions, village names were renamed, churches were re-Christened under Greek saints, tombstones and epitaphs along with any visible signs of the Macedonian language were erased and re-written in Greek.

POPULATION

HISTORY

The Benefit Society Oshchima (est. 1907) derives its name from the Village of Oshchima (appearing as “Oshtima” on the monument), situated in western Macedonia, founded early in the eighteenth century by fugitives fleeing punishment from the Turks. The Society was formed in Toronto in 1907 as a non-political and benevolent organisation to provide financial assistance to its members during their initial period of settlement in Canada. The first villagers to immigrate to Canada were five men, who crossed the ocean in 1904, returning home shortly with their hard-earned savings. This was the migration pattern until 1915, when the first women joined their men. Illiteracy, the language barrier, the uncertainty of employment prospects and overcrowded living conditions led often to despair and ill-health. The Society therefore played a crucial role in coming to terms with these pressing problems. All members in ill-health were given monetary assistance to either return home or obtain medical treatment here. Moreover, financial aid was sent to poor families in the village, and for public works as well. As of 1982, there were roughly 700 persons of Oshchiman descent living in Canada, most of whom were in Toronto. One important service provided by the Society was the purchase of two burial plots — one in Pine Hills Cemetery in Scarborough, the other here in Prospect Cemetery. The graves in these two plots are provided free-of-charge to all members of the Society

To help ease unemployment and provide camaraderie Toronto's Macedonians set up village-based brotherhoods and benevolent organizations which obliged working members to assist their needy comrades in finding a job. The well-publicized plight and deportation of the 300 or sounemployed Macedonians in 1907, described above in chapter 3, spurred organization that same year of the first such group, the Oshchima Benefit Society St Nicholas. And fellow-feeling and mutual support soon found expression in creation in 1910 of a national parish in Toronto, centred in SS Cyril and Methody Church.

MUTUAL AID SOCIETIES

In times of illness, the brotherhoods and benevolent societies encouraged members to seek the counsel of physicians and to submit to hospital care if necessary. The organizations were prepared to pay for such medical aid. The Oshchima Benefit Society St Nicholas would also assume the cost of transporting a sick member back to the old country if that were his wish. The member, once recovered and suitably employed, was expected to repay the society.

Many Macedonians greatly feared being buried by strange men in an unknown land. They wished traditional burial in sacred and familiar ground among friends and relatives. Brotherhoods and benevolent societies would pay the full cost of members' burial. The Oshchima Benefit Society assumed as well the burial costs of non-member villagers in Canada. It purchased a burial plot in Toronto's Prospect Park Cemetery

LINKS

• Christie, Paul. Toronto Canada. Oral History CMHS 2015.

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