When i was in Tuzla, Bosnia after the war, obituary notices like that one were all over the place. They weren’t on boards made for them, but rather pasted onto public buildings and the like. The border color signifies the religion. I can’t remember exactly, but black may have been catholic, green moslem, and red or blue or ? orthodox. The communities are so tightly knit, that i can’t imagine anyone that knew the person finding out about their death through the obituary postings. Perhaps it’s just tradition, or commemoration?

     by Anonymous on September 8, 2004 at 6:38 am

Yes. When I went to Zaječar in May I saw them virtually everywhere on boards, lamp posts, houses … I asked Jovanka about it. With her limited German and my non-existent Serbian (”ne razumem ništo”) I figured out that they don’t put small ads in the paper to announce somebody’s death, but just do it this way. As far as I know they are not as multi religious in South Eastern Serbia as they are in Bosnia, so I only saw one color: black.

     by Anonymous on September 8, 2004 at 8:19 am

There’s also a symbol next to the photo.
It represents the dead person’s faith.
There are also symbols for atheists and
communists. Apparently communism has the
status of a religion.
I observed a notice for the same person
with different symbols. Probably parts of
the family didn’t agree with the deceased’s
continuing believe in communism.

     by Oliver on September 8, 2004 at 9:10 am

You are right, such obituary boards are non existent in Slovenia.

     by Anonymous on September 8, 2004 at 10:52 am

You are right, such obituary boards are non existent in Slovenia.

     by Anonymous on September 8, 2004 at 10:54 am

Hmm, come to think of it, you really don’t see those in Slovenia as much. Maybe on or near church doors in some villages.

Nice observation! That’s one of those small details that sometimes elude a local’s eye.

     by crni on September 8, 2004 at 4:19 pm

When I was living in Serbia, I used to see those posted everywhere. There were random obituary boards, but the notices were posted on run-down buildings, doors to corner stores, and on the gates of the deceased.

The main church in town had two boards by their main gates — not sure if they still do, it’s been two years.

I noticed them sporadically in Arandjelovac and Beograd as well, but as I didn’t spend as much time there, I didn’t really notice.

     by Ange. on September 10, 2004 at 1:57 am

I would also note (after reading the other comments) that they did all have the orthodox cross on the top of them and were all black. I can’t ever recall seeing one of another colour. Some were without the cross, but I never saw any with a different symbol.

     by Ange. on September 10, 2004 at 2:00 am

OSMRTNICA
is also one of those difficult words…

     by Anonymous on September 10, 2004 at 9:13 am

(Coming late to this one)

What Ange said. These notices are very common in Serbia outside Belgrade. Visit any village, town or small city, and you’ll see them.

There seem to be semi-official obituary boards, but you also see them posted in half-random places, like on the sides of abandoned buildings.

It seemed like a nice custom to me, actually.

Doug M.

     by Doug Muir on September 20, 2004 at 10:04 am

Posting these signs is a common practice throughout Bosnia as well as Croatia. The first commentator is right — there are different symbols and colors for various affiliations, whether they are religious or political. About the use of multiple symbols: maybe some of those that have both communist stars and Catholic crosses, for example, are denoting someone who was a partisan in WWII but also still identified as Catholic (judging from the huge bump up in church attendance in Zagreb during the war, such a duality would not be a completely out of the ordinary post-1991).

     by tamitsa on March 12, 2005 at 11:09 pm

I too noticed these notices in my time in Bosnia, most of the time I was in Sarajevo. I think these are used because a lot of people are not big letter writers, and yet the word has to be gotten out some way. This way may just be a quicker cheaper way of notifying one’s neighbors so they can come pay their respects. If people know already, this step may not be taken. I stayed in a very small village near Metkovic and two men died, one in the arms of his wife, and one died all alone and was found by the neighbor who usually dropped in on him to check on him and make sure he was ok.The man who died all alone died the night before the arrival of myself and my fiance, and the other died during the day. In both instances there was a notice in Slobodna Dalmacija, but no one put up those notices on boards because everyone in the village was aware of their deaths, and able to go pay their respects. It may be a way of getting around the fact that not everyone has a telephone but would want to know.

     by Katja on March 27, 2005 at 5:38 am