Zadruga
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A zadruga (Cyrillic: задруга) refers to a type of rural community historically common among South Slavs. Generally formed of one family or a clan of related families, the zadruga held its property, herds and money in common, with the oldest capable patriarch usually ruling and making decisions for the family. Because the zadruga was based on a patrilineal system, when a girl married, she left her parents' zadruga and joined that of her husband.
The zadruga eventually went into decline that began in the late 19th century, as the largest started to become unmanageable and broke into smaller zadrugas or formed villages. Many modern-day villages in the Balkans have their roots in a zadruga, a large number of them carrying the name of the one that founded them.
Villages and neighbourhoods that originated from zadrugas can often be recognized by the patronymic suffixes, such as -ivci, -evci, -ovci, -inci, -ci, -ane, -ene, etc., which their names carry.
