Lug (Beočin)

Lug (Serbian Cyrillic: Луг) is a village in western part of the Serbian province of Vojvodina, in the municipality of Beočin, South Bačka District. It lies on the northwest slopes of Fruška gora mountain, in the region of Syrmia. The village has a population numbering 801 people (2002 census), most of them being ethnic Slovaks.

History

The village originates from the late 19th century, when the local land owner Odescalchi employed people from Bački Petrovac and Gložan, Slovak villages across the Danube, in order to satisfy growing timber export. At first, they resided seasonally and returned to their villages. In order to ensure more permanent work force, they offered them cleared forest land as loan, at the location of the later village. In 1910, the village had 371 residents, and in the mid-century around 500.

Economy

The residents are mostly engaged in agriculture, with a part working in nearby Beočin.

Culture

Cultural society "Mladost", with folklore section, maintains the Slovak traditions and dances. The village twice hosted the Slovak cultural festival "Tancuj, tancuj", and their members acted in various folklore festivals across Europe.

Beočin

Beočin (Serbian Cyrillic: Беочин, pronounced [bɛɔ̌tʃiːn]) is a town and municipality in the Vojvodina province, Serbia. The population of the town is 7,839, whilst Beočin's municipality population is 15,726. There is also a Beočin Monastery from the 16th century in the municipality.

Name

In Serbian, the town is known as Beočin (Беочин), in Croatian as Beočin, in Hungarian as Belcsény, in German as Beotschin, in Slovak as Beočín, and in Rusyn as Беочин.

The name of the town derived from the word that came from local Serbian dialect, which in modern standard Serbian would be written as "beli otac" or in English as "white father" (the full meaning of the name is "the place that belong to white father"). The name referred to the prior of the nearby Beočin monastery.

Geography

Although it is geographically located in Syrmia, Beočin administratively belong to South Bačka District. The town of Beočin is divided into two parts: Beočin Grad ("Beočin town") and Beočin Selo ("Beočin village"). However, no matter that Beočin Selo is called a village, it is not a village but simply part of the town.