ABOUT

The village of Trsje was made to change its name by the Greek government to Trivunon. It is about 12 kilometres southwest of Lerin in a valley under the high peak of Bigla. It lies at 21 degrees 18 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 44 minutes latitude and is 1,594 metres above sea level. It has an area of about 16 square kilometres.

The village borders to the north with the village Armensko, to the northeast with the village Kalugeritsa, to the southeast with the village Nered, to the south with the village Tyrje and to the west with the Lundzher Mountain.

Before the start of the Greek Civil War about 630 Macedonian residents lived in the village. The residents were employed in raising livestock and agriculture.

During the Greek Civil War, the residents actively took part in NOF and DAG with more than 80 active fighters. 26 gave their lives. They were:

1. Ganchov, Nase
2. Gjeorgiev, Gjorgi
3. Gjiamov, Tode
4. Gjiamov, Pavle
5. Gjiamov, Spiro - three brothers
6. Janchev, Nase
7. Lazhgov, Jote
8. Masin, Risto
9. Nichov, Kotse
10. Nichov, Nase - two brothers
11. Nichov, Risto
12. Nicho, Stefan
13. Nicho, Stefan Mite - son and father
14. Pandov, Kotse
15. Pandov, Risto
16. Pandov, Tsande
17. Pejov, Vane
18. Pejov, Tsande
19. Pejov, Gele - three brothers
20. Popov, Tsande
21. Popov, Vane - brothers
22. Rukov, Nase
23. Rukov, Krste - brothers
24. Stavrev, Gjorgi
25. Stavrev, Risto - brothers
26. Utov, Nume

After the Greek Civil War and emigration from and forced migration to the village, the number of residents fell significantly. The official census in Greece in 1991 recorded only 2 residents in the village.

FAMILY NAMES

Here is a list of family names which at one point lived in Tersia (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 earliest organized charitable fraternities in Canada were fraternities of the following villages: Oshchima, Banitsa, Smrdesh, D’mbeni, Buff, and Trsje. These fraternities were established during the period 1905-1907. After 1910 there was massive organization of Macedonian village charitable societies. Till the Second World War these Macedonian village societies were basically fraternities from Aegean Macedonia, whereas after the 1960’s they were basically from the Republic of Macedonia.

Recently, telephone books containing addresses of every resident of a certain village, regardless of their present place of living, have become very popular. The villages of Buff, Oshchima, Brajchino, and others have such telephone books.

... continued ...

“OTEC GERASIM” (Father Gerasim) CHARITABLE SOCIETY FROM TRSJE was most probably the oldest society of the Macedonians in Toronto. Unofficially it began functioning in 1890, but was officially registered in 1933 when the number of emigrants from the village of Trsje, near Florina, increased significantly. It was well known for its cultural activities among its members and the entire Macedonian emigrant population in Toronto. The society has its own park in which they have built a small monastery named “Otec Gerasim.”

LINKS

• Google maps - Tersia
• Kotse Sarov od Selo Trsje, Lerinsko, Egejska Makedonija
• T'rsye - It's History It's Legacy
• T'rsye - Its History, Its Legacy ... A Village in Macedonia - by Vasil and Paul Stokoff
• Wikipedia - Tersia, Kostursko

MEDIA GALLERY