Albanian people follow two religions: Islam and Christianity.

Islam has been imported in Albania in the 15° century with the Turkish conquest. In the beginning only the conquerors professed it, later on it was diffused with the violence and the confiscation of the rich people propriety.
This persecution forced a lot of rich people to emigrate in the Kingdom of Neaples. With the passing of the ages, the number of Moslems among Albanian people grew and at the time of the collapse of Ottoman empire they were known in te whole Turkey by the name of Arnauti. As all Moslems of the west they are all Sunniti.

The diffusion of Christianity, instead, happened following two big currents: on one hand there were the Latin missionaries, that preached the gospel in the northern part, affirming the Catholic confession with the Roman rituals; on the other in the central and in the southern part Christianity was diffused by the Greeks affirming the Orthodox confession with Byzantine rituals.

In 1967 the phylo-Chinese government closed down 2169 mosques and churches and proclaimed Albania the first atheist country of the world. There were no religion officially any more. As far as the Hebrew are concerned, there were some dealers only, who lived in the biggest cities.
It's interesting to know that Albania was completely Catholic before Turkish conquest and the diffusion of Islam. Entire tribes became Moslems just to obey the leaders and not for real conviction. But the diversity of religions hasn't influenced the country largely, as it has happened for example in the rest of the Balkans, nor the way to live either their customs.

Still today in the internal regions there are present some traditional feasts and ceremonies. You can find tracks of folklore and old dances like that acrobatic of vase or that of the eagles during which the dancers wear very ancient traditional costumes. The Tosks (Albanians of the south) wear a embroidered shirt in white linen, with wide and short sleeves, stopped in the waist by a large and red belt. The lower part is made up of a little pleated skirt, called "fustanella" wore over the knee high pants. This costume is a heritage by the ancient Illyrian's, and is one of the most characteristic elements of Tosk costume. The Gegs instead wear long and tight pants. In the summer they are white decorated with black threads, in the winter they are black or dark with light decorations. Over it they wear a black jacket, decorated with shoulder.

The traditional feminine clothes, instead, reflect more the Turkish' characteristic. The women wear a blouse with long and white sleeves, long pants closed in the lower part, a dark dress, an apron and a headcerchief tied in different ways on the head.

The Albanian village is usually more widespread, be it on the hill or on the mountain. In fact, every house or farm is surrounded by cultivated fields or planted with trees zones. The meeting-place is the mosque, always placed in the centre of the village and visible from far away.

The principal characteristic of the ancient Albanian house are different from zone to zone. The most interesting building is called "kulla", a high and strong build, like a tower, with very large walls and very small windows. This house was used generally as a refuge and we can find it in the northern region of Albania, when the blood revenges were very diffused. In the central Albania you can find the house built whit clay hardened under the sun with a skeleton composed by poles or canes. In the hills the stones are replaced by the clay but the skeleton is the same.

About the interior decoration, typical of the mountain regions are the wooden beds supported by poles sometimes up to one meter and half high, and the wooden cradle, made in the way so that it can be transported easily. Some typical tools are: a kind of knife with curved handle; a long knife called "hanxhar", not in use any more today, other agricultural tools such as a cart dragged by bulls. The plough was imported from neighbouring countries.

Even nowadays in Albania there are different types of cultures cohabiting together: the more primitive one of Malesia, the feudal type especially on the mountains of the central zone; the more civilised of south and the most modern, of the western type, of the area of Tirana.

The general picture that comes out of this is a northern, mounteneer peasant where the sense of belonging to a group/clan is very strong, in contrast to the new way of southern thinking, influenced by the western TVs, the myth of earning easily and of success as well as of a greater trade interchange. Not even the forty years under the dictator Enver Hoxha served to bring together these different types of cultures.

Probably it is because of this that the riots of 97 started in the south of the land. The southern clans(who are not organised like those of the mountainous north, where there are still medieval laws) are as a matter of fact transformed in a kind of commercial society where the business relations prevale those of blood. But these business affairs regulated inside the clan, mean deceivement and creation of financial pyramidal scheemes.

The collapse of communism and its isolation, that imposed in the country the gradual reformation did not even have a chance to start. The country underwent a wild and unmerciful liberalism, which brought misery and placed the north against the south.

For ages, in Albania, the woman were discriminated and in the same time adored in the wonderful verses of the legends.

As all women in the Mediterranean region, the Albanian women have brought on their own shoulders the weight of the life. The men were obliged to emigrate in other countries, and they have worked, taken care of the children, have cultivated the traditions and the costumes. In the rural zone they worked the land, which was divided in smaller parts.

Although the Albanian women didn't have the opportunity to participate in the social life, they have always fought for the freedom of their country.

During the Second World War, 6000 women, out of a population of 1 million in Albania at that time, participated in the antifascist war in the partisan army. Their reward for this from the communist regime was the complete equality to the men: they could vote, have the same salaries, etc. It was at this time that the education up to eight grades became obligatory for everyone, women included.