Malësori: Historical Illustration

The tradition of shaving the head except for a tuft from the back was very widespread in Albania in the 1885s. The model was called Perçe, and this habit of the highlanders is related to cutting heads in war and maintaining dignity even for death.

Until the first Balkan war around 1912, beheading in war was common. For this reason, the Albanians of that time left this bunch of hair. So that in case their head was cut off, the enemy would not grab the head detached from the body by putting his fingers in the mouth or nose, but grab it by the hair.