Podruga

What it is

The word podruga, also written podrugi, means "second in order". In the Balkans it was the name for a woman who entered a marriage as a second wife. The arrangement was easy to describe. A man whose first wife had no children married again, and the new wife moved into the same house. She was there to have children. Both women lived in one household, but each had her own room, her own work and her own duties. The sources place this custom among Albanian and Serbian families, and say it lasted in some places into the 1980s.

How it worked

The first wife stayed in the house, but she was no longer a wife. The sources say she and her husband stopped sharing a bed, and that the church dissolved the marriage. She kept her standing in the household and in the wider community, where she was looked after and treated as part of the family rather than sent away. The second wife took on the task of bearing children. The two women divided the rooms and the chores between them, yet the sources stress that they were always together. Customary law in parts of Kosovo and Metohija allowed the arrangement, provided the first wife agreed, openly or quietly.

Origins and history

The sources call the practice very old and say its earliest written trace is a story from the Bible, in which Sarah, Hagar and Abraham appear. Sarah, expecting no child of her own, brought Hagar to her husband Abraham; and in time, the sources say, Sarah herself gave birth to Isaac. The sources offer that story as an early picture of the same pattern: a wife without children who makes room for another woman so that the family can continue. The custom appears in different cultures to different degrees, according to the sources. In Kosovo and Metohija it survived until the 1980s.

The last known case

The last podruga the sources name is Petkana Filipović, described as Serbian and as coming from Drena, a village in Kosovo and Metohija. She entered a household where Vujica was the husband and Roksanda the first wife. The three lived under one roof, and Petkana bore four daughters and one son. The sources give no dates for her and say nothing about what happened to the household later. She stands as the final example of a practice that had already grown rare.

How Podruga is kept

A husband and his first wife had no children. With the first wife's agreement, sometimes spoken and sometimes unspoken, the husband married a second time. The new wife moved into the family home. The first wife stayed, but the marriage between her and the husband ended, and the sources say the church dissolved it. From then on the two women shared the house: separate rooms, separate chores, one household. The second wife bore the children. The first wife kept her position in the home and in the community, and the sources describe her as protected rather than cast out.

When and where

Podruga had no fixed date. It began when a first marriage produced no children, and it was arranged then, with the first wife's consent. The sources say it was still being practised in Kosovo and Metohija in the 1980s, and that this was where it ended. No calendar day or season belongs to it.

The sources tie podruga to the Balkans, and name Albanian and Serbian families in particular. It is described as established in parts of Kosovo and Metohija, where customary law allowed it, and the last case the sources mention comes from a village there called Drena. Serbia is also named, since the last known podruga is described as Serbian. The custom is not recorded as continuing anywhere today.

What Podruga means

For the families who kept it, podruga was about children and about keeping a woman in her home. The sources reject the idea that the first wife simply sacrificed herself. They describe her consent as an act of love for her husband, and as a practical choice, since many first wives had nowhere else to go. The two women were said to be joined by one aim: raising the next generation. The household kept its name and its future, and the first wife kept her place in it.

Questions people ask about Podruga

See also

VechornytsiEvening gatherings of Ukrainian youth, with songs, jokes, games and winter divinationLazariceA spring procession of girls in flower wreaths, singing door to door before Palm SundayBread and saltBread and salt offered to a guest: a welcome kept from Russia to AlbaniaKanunAlbanian customary law kept by word of mouth, centred on honour and the given word

Good reading and sources

• Podruga on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-09.