Is Bosniak culture closer to Albanian, Serbian or Montenegan?

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Historical-Wear-9948@reddit

Everything Ex-Yugo. We are the same people.

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technotronica@reddit

Alpine central European Slavs. Different but still the same essence there.

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Well they were more central european but thanks to 70 years in Yugo they became more like serbs and croats. but... they are still most different than other members of ex-federation, and most important they have totally different language, so that is the main reason I do not consider them same people. very close, yes. but not same.

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technotronica@reddit

They are Slavic. We are the same peoples (plural). We don't have a totally different language.

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Logical_Muffin_7685@reddit

Czechs and Poles are also Slavic. Language is different when compared what Serbs croats mintenegrins and Bosnians speak. These are the same 100%. Slovenians is different. I understand croats and bosnians 100%. I understand slovenians 30-40%. Same as Czechs or slovaks.

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Independent_Mine1995@reddit

You should unite then, all the slavic nations in the west balkans

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Historical-Wear-9948@reddit

Good idea, they should call it Yugoslavia

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Active_Drawing_1821@reddit

Do you mean Bosniaks from Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Because there are Bosniaks in Serbia and Montenegro too. I’m from a northern Montenegrin town where there are also Bosniaks, and of course we’re close to each other, we’re basically the same people. If I had, by chance, been born in a house next to mine or across the street, I would have been a Bosniak, or however they identify.

So I feel much closer to them of course, those are my friends and neighbors, teachers..., than to someone from Boka Kotorska or to Albanians from Ulcinj, even though we all live in Montenegro.

I also feel connected to Bosnian people in general, especially those from eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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technotronica@reddit

I'm from eastern Bosnia and feel deep connection to Montenegro, especially the northern parts. I had a friend from Šavnik. He was taaaaaaall, btw 😅

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Active_Drawing_1821@reddit

It's totally natural! ❤️ And yeah, people are tall in the region. 😄

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LowAd4075@reddit

Albanian.

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kuhinjski@reddit

Id argue that Bosnia and Serbia are the closest ones to each other despite all differences

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amazingamy19@reddit

I mean it really depends on which part of Bosnia are we talking about here.

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Turbulent-Debate7661@reddit

considering that 70% of bosnia is practically serbia 2, i agree

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technotronica@reddit

It's obvious you don't know anything about us.

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kuhinjski@reddit

And which part of Serbia, of course, but like generally speaking as a whole place.

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amazingamy19@reddit

Honestly, when i was in Mostar, i felt pretty out of place.

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Historical-Wear-9948@reddit

I am a Serb from Bosnia and I feel out of place when I go to Belgrade

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nemamkarmenisambot@reddit

Like plucking someone from Subotica and dropping them in Vranje?

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amazingamy19@reddit

Not really. Serbs are basically only culturally religious, which means we don’t really go to church regularly, nor do we do much religious stuff.

In Mostar I could hear prayers from the loudspeakers from several different directions, at the same time. I saw young girls being covered.

So for someone, not engaged with religion daily, it is not really something that is familiar to me.

It’s not even that is Muslim religion, as much as it is how intensely it is present.

I also don’t think there is a single mosque in Vranje. But maybe I’m mistaken.

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nemamkarmenisambot@reddit

Muslims in Bosnia are also only culturally religious, the mosques are blaring only because there's some other religion around to compete with.

If anything, that only serves to prove how same all these people are culturally.. you are just not used to mosques but it's not different than church bells, and those ring only on certain occasions in homogeneous parts of Serbia/Croatia, but in multireligious parts of Bosnia the bells are ringing for what seems to be an agonizing eternity every. single. day.

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PersimmonTall8157@reddit

I would say Montenegro is more similar in mentality to Bosnia than Serbia.

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FloppyDiskDrives@reddit

Out of the three, Serbian and Montenegrin.

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bphunter@reddit

Yeah this one. Although you guys call everything burek when we all know there's only one kind of burek.

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FloppyDiskDrives@reddit

My man parents are from Bosna, so in our household there’s only one burek and that burek is which meat, thank you very much. I gotta say though, zeljanica is my number one.

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technotronica@reddit

In my home we called burek - pita mesnica. 😆

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HanDjole998@reddit

all know there's only one kind of burek.

Yes, with cheese

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PavelKringa55@reddit

Bro!

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AnaBaros@reddit

Yes. 😅 Because it depends on which part of Bosnia and which part of Albania and which part of Serbia etc.

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azzurro99@reddit

They are more like Serbs, I would say even more progressive and liberal, so less conservative and traditional than Serbs

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shqiptarski1444@reddit

Probably Montenegrin

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cevapi-rakija-repeat@reddit

Hmm. Bosnians are way more friendly and have better food. I don’t like this question, I think they are in their own category.

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shqiptarski1444@reddit

I say Montenegrins because Montenegrins aren’t as anti-Islam as Serbs

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Glittery_Marshmallow@reddit

I say Montenegrins because Montenegrins aren’t as anti-Islam as Serbians

LOL babe, LOL

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cevapi-rakija-repeat@reddit

I see where you’re coming from now.

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Active_Drawing_1821@reddit

Why do you think that Montenegrins are not friendly? Also, our food is basically the same. 😅

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cevapi-rakija-repeat@reddit

Obviously a big disclaimer that it was in my experience. Montenegrins had an air about them that dealing with a foreigner was an inconvenience whereas Bosnians always seemed eager to chat, even approaching me first quite often. Come on…comparing Montenegrin and Bosnian ćevapi?

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Active_Drawing_1821@reddit

I see you were in the south (I would guess, Budva 😅), so I understand now.

But Montenegro is much more and much better than that.

I'm sorry for your experience! 🥲

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cevapi-rakija-repeat@reddit

How in the hell did you clock it was Budva lmao. Yeah that’s where I got food poisoning. You’re right, I should see more. I’d like to do some mountains close to the Albanian border next time.

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Active_Drawing_1821@reddit

Oh, I knew it immediately my friend... 😂 It’s a tourist hotspot, and kind of a tourist trap too, even if it is an ancient and beautiful town.

That probably explains why your experience in Bosnia felt so much better. There isn’t really a place like Budva there that pulls in massive crowds the same way, so people tend to be more relaxed, friendly, and genuinely open to tourists. In Budva, it can feel more transactional, like they just want your money and to move on, they always seem sick of tourists and foreigners.

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vasjpan002@reddit

They were Cathars, daVinci code, believed born again meant reincarnation. Became muslim under Turks as Sufi also believe in reincarnation.

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Massive_Gain6648@reddit

Bro Serbians, Bosnians, Croatians and Montenegrins are the same people with different religions, we speak the same language, we have similar traditions, we are so similar in mentality. We all listen to same musicians, we are watching the same movies, everything. If you were born in Tuzla you are probably living similar life like someone in Kragujevac.

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dicky1977@reddit

Honestly, Bosniaks are kind of a mix in terms of cultural overlap. They tend to have more noticeable similarities with Kosovo Albanians and people from the Sandzak region (mostly due to shared regional dynamics and religion), while the connection with Albanians from Albania is generally less direct. At the same time, they’re still South Slavs, so linguistically and historically they have much more in common with Croats and Serbs.

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PersimmonTall8157@reddit

They are very different in mentality compared to Albanians/Sandzak Bosniaks. It’s way more relaxed and chill among family/friends.

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BardhyliX@reddit

We have nothing in common... Besides religion and some cultural aspects inherited by the Yugoslav system.

It's obviously Serbs and Montegrins, they literally speak the same language and genetically speaking they're almost identical lol.

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Leading-Thanks-1861@reddit

Bosniak and South Serbian go the best. Similar mentality of happy people.

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Live-Method-219@reddit

This is an approximate map of main cultural zones around Bosnia (I have big fingers 🤌, so there are some level of non precision)

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Life_Whole_1889@reddit

Ah yes the sea people

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Live-Method-219@reddit

It's not water, it's sea ⛵

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Ujemegaz@reddit

Some may assume we are similar because on paper we have muslim majorities, but i think we are different.

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PasicT@reddit

None of them, they have their own culture.

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EphemeralOcean@reddit

Depends on where in Bosnia.

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Fickle-Message-6143@reddit

Actually it doesn't, everywhere in BiH Bosniaks are more similar to Serbians or Montenegrins than to Albanians.

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EphemeralOcean@reddit

Ok but between Serbs and Montenegrins it depends on where.

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Fickle-Message-6143@reddit

That is true.

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ZAMAHACHU@reddit

This is the correct answer. There's a huge difference between Krajina Bosniaks and Tuzla Bosniaks.

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New_Accident_4909@reddit

And both of them are closer to Serbs and Croats than Albanians.

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PavelKringa55@reddit

Interesting how OP included 2 out of 3 countries that neighbor Bosnia, but added one that's further away and left out the third neighbor that has by far the longest border with Bosnia.
Montenegro is miniscule population.
Bosnia is ethnically mostly a mix of Serbs and Croats. Some converted to Islam and now they're Bosniaks. Their culture is mostly inspired by Turkey, that was occupying the region for a while. Turkish culture is vastly different from Serbian or Croatian.

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