Today, the International Mother Language Day is marked worldwide, proclaimed 27 years ago by the General Conference of UNESCO.
Serb language – Photo: RTRS
This date once again reminds us how important it is to highlight the beauty and significance of the Serb language, which has endured throughout history to the present day.
On this occasion, an exhibition of the most successful works of Cyrillic calligraphy titled “Heart writes in Cyrillic” was opened, organized by the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka and the Museum of Republika Srpska.
Our most beautiful literary works, which for centuries have testified to the spiritual and cultural rise of the Serbs, were written in Cyrillic, the original script of the Serb people.
For the Serb people, the mother tongue is one of the strongest symbols of national identity and historical continuity, and therefore we are obliged to preserve and nurture it.
“We have gathered here to celebrate the language, to preserve tradition, to pass it on from generation to generation, because that is our task. Isidora Sekulić beautifully said that man is language; for a person to write, think, and even remain silent, they need language. That is why our task is to preserve it and use it properly,” said Marija Vasić, professor of Serb language and literature.
The Serb language and Cyrillic represent a common roof for all Serbs, wherever they may live. Preserving the mother tongue is not only a matter of communication, but of our identity, history, present, and future.
“And what we are doing today through intergenerational connection—bringing together the youngest, our students, and their parents—we are preserving Cyrillic, preserving the Serb language, and striving to give it the importance a language should have in society, especially the mother tongue,” emphasized Biljana Babić, Dean of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka.
At the Faculty of Philology, the exhibition of the most successful works of Cyrillic calligraphy titled “Heart writes in Cyrillic” was opened, with the project authored by Tamara Lukač Lazarević from the Museum of Srpska.
“In addition to the exhibition, a rich cultural and artistic program has been prepared, involving different generations, sending a message that the most important thing is to preserve and pass on to future generations the achievements of culture and civilization such as language and script,” said Lukačeva.
Marking February 21, the International Mother Language Day, is not merely a formality but a call to responsibility—to never forget who we are and in which language the pages of our glorious history were written.
Source: RTRS
