Šajkača

The Šajkača (Serbian Cyrillic: шајкача) is the Serbian national hat, used by ethnic Serbs throughout former Yugoslavia that originated in the 18th century. It was originally worn by the Serbian river fleet in the service of the Habsburg Empire (known as the šajkaši) around the Danube and Sava Rivers. These men conducted small-scale raids against the Turks, thus allowing Serb refugees from the Ottoman Empire to safely flee to the Habsburg Empire. The refugees copied the design of the hat and spread it widely within the Serbian community.

The distinctive hat is recognisable by its top part that looks like the letter V or like the bottom of a boat (viewed from above), after which it got its name ("šajka"). It gained wide popularity in the early 20th century as it was the hat of the Serbian army in the First World War. It is worn everyday by some villagers today, and it was worn among Bosnian Serb military commanders during the Bosnian War in the 1990s.

During the 1999 Kosovo War, the Belgrade branch of the American fast food chain McDonald's used the hat to promote itself (somewhat improbably) as an authentically Serbian entity, by distributing posters and lapel buttons showing the famous golden arches written in Cyrillic alphabet and surmounted by a "šajkača".

Use

The elderly ethnic Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro especially in the villages, wear the hat on everyday basis. The Serbs of Montenegro use both the Sajkaca and the Montenegrin hat, the Sajkaca also being a political pro-Serb sign. The Sajkaca is also used as a nationalistic symbol.

ee also

* Serbia
* Montenegrin cap
* Lika cap