Drekalovići

The Drekalovići (Cyrillic: Дрекаловићи; Albanian: Ndrekalorë) are a historical union of brotherhoods of Kuči. Their patron saint (slava) is St. Nicholas (Nikoljdan), the old tradition of Orthodox Serbs. They were part of a wave of settlement in the mid 16th century in the area of Kuči, and came to form an important part of it. Unlike the brotherhoods that form Old Kuči (the families that already lived in the area before their arrival) the Drekalovići all claim ancestry from a single ancestor, Drekale after whom they are named.^[1]

Originally, a Catholic brotherhood, they gradually became Orthodox, in particular after the conversion of their leader Lale Drekalov in the 17th century when Rufim Njeguš was Metropolitan of Cetinje.^[2][3] The Drekalovići do not marry within Kuči, and historically form no marriage with a part of Kastrati, which according to Edith Durham trace descent from emigrants from Drekalovići.^[4]

Notable people

• Drekale
• Lale Drekalov
• Iliko Lalev
• Radonja Petrović
• Marko Miljanov Popović

References

1. Mihailo Konstantinović (1953). Анали правног факултета у Београду: тромесечни часопис за правне и друштвене науке. Vol. 1–2. p. 67.
2. Zamputi, Injac (1963). Relacione mbi gjendjen e Shqipërisë veriore e të mesme në shekullin XVII (1634-1650) [Correspondence on the situation in northern and central Albania in the 17th century]. University of Tirana. p. 378. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
3. Ivan Jovović, 2013, Dvooltarske crkve na crnogorskom primorju, {Sličnu zaslugu, samo u obrnutom smjeru, istoriografi poput Sime Milutinovića i Dimitrije Milakovića navode u korist crnogorskog mitropolita Rufima Boljevića, koji je Kuče, Bratonožiće i Drekaloviće iz katoličanstva preveo u pravoslavlje, "Similar merit, only in the opposite direction, historiographers like Sime Milutinovic and Dimitrije Milakovic stated in favor of Montenegrin Metropolitan Rufim Boljevic, who is Kuce, Bratonozice and Drekalovice from Catholicism converted to Orthodoxy"} https://www.maticacrnogorska.me/files/53/06%20ivan%20jovovic.pdf #page= 69
4. Durham, Edith (1928). Some tribal origins, laws and customs of the Balkans. pp. 30, 52. Retrieved 28 January 2020.