Trpinja

Trpinja (Трпиња, Terpenye) is a village and an eponymous municipality in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The village is located on the D55 road between Osijek and Vukovar. Landscape of the Trpinja Municipality is marked by the Pannonian Basin plains and agricultural fields of corn, wheat, common sunflower and sugar beet. The Municipality of Trpinja was established in 1997 by the UNTAES administration as one of new predominantly Serb municipalities in order to ensure access to local self-government to Serb community in the region after the end of the Croatian War of Independence. The municipality is northernmost one in the Vukovar-Syrmia Country and there are in total 7 villages within municipal boundaries. At the time of 2011 census the municipality had a population of 5,572 and the village of Trpinja itself 1,537. The villages of Trpinja, Bobota and Vera share a common legend about the origin of their names. According to the legend, the ancestors of today's inhabitants of villages, who settled at the time of the Great Serb Migrations under Arsenije III Čarnojević, were called Bobe. They were fleeing from the Ottoman Empire conquests of Balkan as they wanted to preserve their religious freedom. This legendary religious commitment and orthodoxy was coined in the local phrase Bobe endured for the faith or originally in Serbian Bobe trpiše za veru. The family name of 'Bobe' was used as the basis for the name of Bobota, the word 'endured' (trpiti) the name of Trpinja was created and from the word 'faith' (Serbian: vera) the name of Vera was coined. Another story tells that the name of Trpinja originated from a landowner Trpimir who owned the land in the vicinity. Minority languages of Croatia Serbian together with the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet is the second co-official language within the boundaries of the municipality including all settlement except predominantly Croat one Ćelije. The statute guarantees that Serbian Cyrillic alphabet will be used in text of seals and stamps, on plates of representative, executive and administrative bodies of the municipality, as well as on those of legal entities with public authority.