Perasma

The settlement was first mentioned in an Ottoman defter of 1481, under the name of Kučkovjani, and was described as having sixty-seven households. The locals of the village produced many freshly-grown crops that were kept or sold in the Florinian markets, like garlic and onions.^[6]

The village had approximately 100,000 kg of wheat, 150,000 kg of corn and 25,000 kg of rye at one point in time. The houses were said to have been made from hay and soil, which as a result created a type of brick.

During the times of the Ottoman Empire, Perasma was under the Church Dioscese of Kastoria, which was also when their main monastery, Agioi Anargyroi, was built in 1300 before the Ottoman invasion. In 1845 the Russian slavist Victor Grigorovich recorded Kuchkovini (Кучковини) as mainly Bulgarian village.^[7]

During the 17th and early 18th centuries, the village was Orthodox and refused to fall under the Muslim supremacy of the Turks. The first school of the village taught the Greek language to the pupils, and included the following teachers: A. Kousmanis from the village of Skopia, G. Konstantinidis, K. Gitskalis, P. Klekatsis, G. Papadimitriou and Papanousis from Drosopigi.^[8] As a result of the rise of Bulgarian nationalism in Macedonia the village created such revolutionary figures as Koche Deloff - the Florina leader of the Bulgarian Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, who was killed by the Young Turks near the villages of Flambouro and Drosopigi. According to the Bulgarian council in Monastir, Andrey Toshev, the population of the village (46 houses) became under the supremacy of the Bulgarian Exarchate in 1902.^[9][10] The "La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne" survey by Dimitar Mishev concluded that the Christian population in 1905 was composed of 760 Bulgarian Exarchists.^[11]

During the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II, the Germans placed a Bulgarian council in Perasma, which consisted of local people from the village such as Kosta Nedelkoff, Todor Popdimitroff, Nase Gagapoff, Iliya Popstoyanoff, Dimitriya Kincharoff, Pandel Gichkaloff, Nikola Popstoyanoff, Iliya Pirganoff and Boris Nedelkoff. Once the Axis powers lost their complete control over the Greek region, many of these men were sentenced to years in prison - some were sent as far as Gyaros Island in the Aegean Sea. The history mentions a range of killings and thievery by German troops who entered the village during the middle 1940s. Once the Greek Civil War erupted post WWII, most Perasmiotes sided with the communist parties - KKE and/or NOF. In 1948, 300 men from Perasma were sentenced to prison by the Greek government for being former "collaborators with the Bulgarian Ohrana troops during WWII". When the Civil War was won by the royal army of Greece, many villagers were forced to flee the village and move elsewhere past the borders. The majority of them settled in Yugoslavia, but some in Poland, and even Russia.^[10]

During and after the Greek Civil War, many villagers were exiled to communist countries (Yugoslavia, Poland and even Russia). Others immigrated to nations with much more security and wealth to offer - Australia, Canada and United States. The people still found many ways to keep their community alive and together, by setting up various clubs around the different cities. The Kouchkovski Social Club, Melbourne Australia is one of the most well-known groups around today, having commenced in the 1950s. These clubs are aimed at increasing health and well-being by participating in community activities and various programs. The name of Melbourne's club is not without contention among the Perasma community of Melbourne, as it fails to reflect both the Greek and distinct Slavic - Macedonian heritage of the villagers; many feel a more appropriate name may be the "Perasma-Kouchkoini Social Club of Melbourne, Australia" and in large part this fact (among others) is the reason for the largely aging and declining membership of the club as of today. (Also witness the practical absence of any Melbourne born Perasma origin second or third generation members).

Pre–war and post–war immigration from Perasma led to the formation of a diaspora and most of the village population lives abroad in the northern suburbs of Melbourne in Australia.^[12]

Perasma had 534 inhabitants in 1981.^[13] In fieldwork done by anthropologist Riki Van Boeschoten in late 1993, Perasma was populated by Slavophones.^[13] The Macedonian language was used by people of all ages, both in public and private settings, and as the main language for interpersonal relationships.^[13] Some elderly villagers had little knowledge of Greek.^[13]