Rakia among the Albanians of the Balkans: borrowing technology, cultural phenomenon and a constant of tradition

The paper addresses the special status of rakia (an alcoholic drink obtained by distillation from fermented fruits and berries) in the culture and traditions of Albanians in the Western Balkans. The technological revolution in the processing of raw plants, which ensured the spread of the production of strong drinks in the Mediterranean in the 7th—12th centuries, enabled the conditions for the rooting of rakia in the food system, ritual sphere, cultural exchange and social life of the peoples of South-Eastern Europe: Albanians, Greeks, Eastern Romans, Southern Slavs, etc. The study in the paradigm of anthropology aims to identify the conditions and mechanisms for the entry of innovative food technologies into home production and industry, the pattern of their inclusion or, conversely, rejection from the system of traditional practices, values and priorities. The study, based on the author’s fieldwork materials from 1990—2024, as well as archival data (primarily analysis of ethnological and folklore sources), allows us to conclude that the Albanians, despite the spread of Islam, which prohibited alcoholic drinks, starting from the 14th century, and a long period of monism (1944 — early 1990s), which pursued private initiative and almost any agricultural work outside the cooperative, preserved the production of rakia and the tradition of its consumption as an indispensable condition for maintaining the family economy and budget, food culture and consumption standards, leisure time and preserving social ties.