Albanian Flag Raising in Worcester, MA – Takeaways
Rafaela Prifti
“America has stood up for Albania as a nation many times in its history and has welcomed thousands of Albanians,” said Frank Zdruli in his remarks delivered shortly after the Albanian flag raising in front of the Worcester City Hall, on November 26. A “third generation Albanian American,” whose ancestors settled in the new country after migrating from Korca, Albania, in the last century, like many compatriots, Zdruli considers Worcester “a cradle of the rise of the Albanian Identity in the American Diaspora… and “the protective Castle of our Albanian Identity” today.
Mayor Joseph Petty and two Council members of Albanian descent Donna Colorio and Ethel Haxhia highlighted the significance of Albania’s Declaration of Independence followed by the reading of the Proclamation of the Worcester City Hall. The remarks by Archpriest Father Mark Doku, Gregory Stefon and Frank Zdruli who spoke on behalf of the Saint Mary’s Assumption Albanian Orthodox Church, Worcester, pointed out at the new dynamics that the thriving community of Albanians has seen since the 90s and onward. The speeches blended well with the cultural program featuring poems recited by students and traditional singing performers.
A particular visual reminder of honoring the ancestral homeland and the Albanian nation as part of Worcester’s community history came in the form of a fifty-year-wedding-anniversary photo of Helen Naum and Xhejms Miço Soter (Sotir). The Soter family descendents, sisters Karen Bullis and Gretchen Moody, and their daughters, Jillian and Kyra, recall how their grandparents came from Drenova to the US, later married and had their children here. They felt that bringing the family’s keepsake – the picture of their grandparents’ golden wedding anniversary to the Albanian flag raising ceremony in Worcester was an homage to their Albanian heritage.
In the crowd that gathered to honor the 112 anniversary of Albania’s Independence, there were Worcester Albanians who have been born here, others who have settled early last century, and those who crossed the Atlantic at the turn of the new century and even in the last decade. All gathered at the square with a deep sense of gratitude. A photo brought purposely by the second generation Americans Karen and Gretchen Soter (Sotir) mingled well with mental images and emotions of Worcester Albanians regardless of when or how long they have been here. 112 years after Albania proclaimed its independence on November 28, 1912, in Vlora, Worcester Albanians honored the same symbol, that, on Thursday, they saw rise up next to the city and the American flag, the black double-headed eagle at the center of a red field.