The tradition of seasonal workers among the old inhabitants of Labunishta has deep and distant roots. From times remembered and recounted, among the people of Labunishta, there were those who left far from their homes and families in search of work and a better existence.

This was long before the 1970s, when seasonal work in Labunishta rapidly expanded and a large number of locals went to work in Germany or various parts of the former Yugoslavia. Especially many settled in Slovenia, which over time became one of the most important seasonal work destinations for the people of Labunishta.

But seasonal work routes existed much earlier as well. The elders told stories of Labunishta residents going to work in Belgrade and Wallachia — the area of present-day Romania — and there were mentions of individuals whose pursuit of earnings took them as far as Anatolia and Persia, the regions of today’s Turkey and Iran.

Wherever they went, one thing was well known: the seasonal worker’s coin was a heavy coin. Behind it stood hard work, sacrifice, loneliness, and long days spent far from their homeland.

Separations were especially hard. Parents sent off their sons, children remained without fathers, and spouses lived apart for months, sometimes longer. Meanwhile, life at home continued in anticipation — waiting for a letter, for news, and most of all, for the seasonal worker to return to his loved ones.

But the parents’ care was not only about their children being healthy and safe abroad. They worried even more about them not taking the wrong path, not being greedy for higher earnings, and, far from family and homeland, not forgetting who they are and what kind of home they come from.

Therefore, at parting, the parental charge was almost always the same: not to forget those left at home — parents, wives, and children; to remember why they are leaving and for whom they strive; and never to let foreign lands and money distance them from what they have taken from their home.

Even today, we witness that many who heeded this parental advice, who kept themselves from bad ways and did not allow earnings to separate them from the values they brought from home, over time have progressed and created a peaceful and dignified life. Their honest earnings brought good not only to themselves but also to their families, leaving behind a trace of effort, order, respect, and prosperity.

But above all advice, one stood out as the greatest charge: to guard against illicit earnings.

The elders knew well that there is no true blessing in what is gained by forbidden and dishonest means. Because it is not most important how much a person brings home, but how he earned it and with what conscience he brought it into his home.

That is why at parting they often said:

“Son, let it be less, but let it be blessed.”

In that brief sentence was gathered a whole philosophy of life: better little, but honest and with peace in the soul, than much without blessing, without peace, and without prosperity.

Times have changed, seasonal work paths have become easier, distances shorter. But even today, man stands before the same temptation — will he choose more at any cost, or less, but honestly and with a clear conscience.

The old Labunishta people perhaps did not have great schools, but they had the school of life. They knew that not everything is measured by how much money a person brings home, but also by how he earned it, what he preserved of himself, and how he returned to his own.

Therefore their saying:

“Son, let it be less, but let it be blessed”

was not just advice about earnings. It was a charge for life — not to lose oneself chasing after more, not to sell one’s honor for money, and not to bring into one’s home something without blessing and prosperity.

Let it be less — but let it be honest, let it be good, and let it be blessed.

May this advice from the elders of Labunishta remain a charge for all future generations who will leave their homeland in search of a better existence, wherever life takes them.

Because this advice belongs not only to one time and one generation. It is a timeless charge: honest earnings, clear conscience, and prosperity are the foundation upon which true happiness, peace, and the well-being of every family are built.

✍️ Jakub Kazimoski

From the series “Wisdoms of the Elders of Labunishta”