Teškoto - Lazaropole, Western Macedonia (1948)

This is a video from the archives of the Macedonian National Television (MVT) taped in 1948 in the mountain village of Lazaropole, in the western part of Republic of Macedonia.

Teskoto (Тешкото, Macedonian for "The Hard One"), is a Macedonian folk dance. Origins of this folk dance are from the western part of Republic of Macedonia and are related to whole Miak region. 

This traditional folk dance is the image of the hard life that Macedonian people lived starting from the second half of the 19th century. It is traditionally performed by the close family of a person who goes abroad to earn money for his family. This folk dance has inspired many artists and poets (for example Blaze Konevski and his poem "Teskoto" - "The Hard One").

Now, something about the village of Lazaropole. Lazaropole (Macedonian Cyrillic: Лазарополе) is a settlement in the Republic of Macedonia. Situated on a plateau at Mount Bistra and surrounded by beech and oak forest; at 1,350 m altitude, it is one of the highest settlements in the country.

The village is named after a medieval local hero, Lazar, who according to a legend was the sole survivor of a Turkish attack on his village, the rest of the townspeople were killed in the cave where they had sought refuge, Lazar, the only survivor, crawled outside and built a new town.

There are about 400 houses in the village. The older ones reveal the traces of the Mijaci highland building style. The village was the birthplace of numerous authors, educators, carvers, teachers, fresco and icon painters, and constructors. Especially picturesque are the village church of St. Gjorgi, built in 1838, and the small churches in the forests near the village.

The epic folk dance Teškoto ("The hard one/dance"), is from the area of Lazaropole.