If there is a day for which it can be said that it has ultimately determined the history of Serbia, then it is undoubtedly Vidovdan (28 June). It turned out that all Serbian defeats and victories during the turbulent centuries are somehow tied to that June 28th, from the Battle of #Kosovo, through the Sarajevo assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip, to the events from the recent history, so the cult of Vidovdan became deep-rooted in the Serbian collective identity.
On this day in 1389 (June 15 according to the old calendar and June 28 by the Gregorian calendar), the battle at Kosovo Polje had stopped the further expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe and it is remembered today as the most important battle in the history of the Serbian people. On that day, Serbian army was led by Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, and the Turkish army by sultan Murat I and his sons Bayezid and Jacob. Both armies lost a large number of soldiers, almost all Serbian knights were killed, but also both the Serbian prince and the Ottoman sultan lost their lives that day.
Some historical sources testify about the Serbian victory, since the Ottoman army retreated from the battlefield and left Serbia after the battle. Later interpretations of history state that the result of the battle was draw or even that Serbia was defeated. Without wanting to draw conclusions, we’ll only say that we deeply believe that the whole story of the Serbian defeat in the Battle of Kosovo was made up to weaken the Serbian national spirit. Despite everything, Kosovo heroes have remained the symbol of the Serbian national struggle for freedom through the centuries and someone whom the Serbs still remember with pride. It is such collective memory that has helped the Serbs to preserve the national consciousness and the Orthodox faith through the centuries of slavery, something that has led us and still leads us today through the struggle for survival as a nation.
Source: fb page/ Meet the Serbs
