Slovakia, with its long history and strong cultural legacy (it had to be strong to survive the thousand years it was ruled by others), boasts many festivals to celebrate that culture. Our Štiavnicka Vrchy (Štiavnica Mountains) have their fair share.
All the festivals we’ve been to in the two-plus years we’ve lived here permanently have many things in common: food and drink abound; both cheap and quality souvenirs are always available; music plays; people enjoy themselves immensely.
For instance, in May, the old castle (dating from 13th century) in Banská Štiavnica hosts the Festival kumštu, remesla a zábavy (art, craftsmanship and fun), in the walled courtyard of the castle where townspeople dressed in Baroque costumes participate in artisanal work (smithy, falconry, cooking).
A highlight of this weekend festival is the living astronomical clock.
Many fine old city squares in this part of the world have ornate and impressive, moving clocks in their town hall towers. Munich comes to mind immediately, in the Marienplatz. Prague is another.
At the strike of 12 Noon, these clocks start up a complicated and elaborate moving show of carved wooden figures, often life-sized, representing some part of the city’s history. You can bet that there will be a reference to the Black Death in many of these mechanical performances.
The town of Banská Štiavnica (pop. 11,000) has its own special clock, or orloj (or-loy) as they say in Slovak. But here it’s a living clock. That is, the performance is by living men, not mechanical men.
At the sound of the bell, characters from Banská Štiavnica’s history and mythology appear in a procession on the inner courtyard balcony of the Old Castle.
The first to appear is Death.
Naturally.
Then comes the executioner. The ubiquitous salamander that figures large in the myth of the town’s beginning is next (more on the Salamander later).
Then come the miners and money-lenders, scholars and burghers, judges and geologists; and more miners to count out the twelve hours on the clock.
In July, there’s a month-long Jazz Fest on nearby Lake Počuvadlo, and a “Festival of Nice Music” (a literal translation) for an annual classical music fest.
Our village of Svätý Anton holds the annual Festival of Saint Hubert, the patron saint of hunters http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertus during the first weekend in September. Hunting clubs from all over Slovakia (and other adjoining countries) gather together here on the grounds of the castle in the village to eat, drink and participate in hunting-related competitions: bird-calling, elk-calling, wild boar-calling.
It’s just plain enjoyable entertainment to see the hunting raptors (falconry is popular in this part of the world), hunting dogs, and to browse through the hunting-related kiosks. We acquired an antler chandelier for the chata, among other fun stuff.
The most famous festival in the Štiavnický Vrchy is the Salamander Days, during the second weekend in September.
Banská Štiavnica’s mining heritage began with the legend of a shepherd who was tending his flock in the high hills above a little village. The shepherd saw something bright shining upon a rock in the meadow. When he went to have a closer look, he saw two salamanders – one gold, one silver – scurry beneath the rock. The shepherd pushed the rock away and discovered real stones of silver and gold. Thus was Banská Štiavnica born (banská means ‘mine’ in Slovak) and became one of the richest mining towns in the Hungarian empire.
Students of the town’s mining university (Europe’s oldest) started Salamander Days in the late nineteenth century.
You can see the two salamanders figuring in the town's 1555 coat of arms here.
It’s a two-day celebration that commences with a parade up the main street into the Trinity Square at dusk. The parade goes on for hours and includes mining groups from all over the region, and south even into Hungary. Paraders wear the mining uniforms from their village and all manner of cultural history is represented in the parade. As the end of the parade winds its way up the hill to the main square, viewers fall in behind all ending up eating, drinking and enjoying lively music into the early hours. The music and entertainments continue into the next day.
A more sober tradition in Slovakia takes place the weekend of All Saints Day, November first. This past Friday was the busiest day of the year on the roads, with Slovaks all over the country make their way back to their home village to tend to the graves of their families. Chrysanthemums are the most popular flower to place on the newly swept and tidied graves. One of the newspapers ran a comparison article on candles – which ones last longest, the longest burning for the money, etc. The graveyards throughout the country are truly beautiful this time of year.
December fifth or thereabouts finds Svätý Mikuláš (Saint Nicholas) visiting children with his companion Čert (devil). JoEllen remembers the very same experience when her family lived in the Tyrolean alps of Austria when she was nine. Saint Nicholas knocked on their door, accompanied by Krampus the tyrolean version of Slovakia’s Čert. Krampus (being the only one of the two to speak English) gave Jo and her brothers a run-down of all their naughty deeds during the year. Then he gave them each a nicely wrapped packaged that contained. . . coal and potato peelings! St. Nicholas, on the other hand, handed out very nicely wrapped colored pencils that came in a red patent leather, zippered pouch.
The same tradition holds true here in Slovakia. Čert will list off all the bad behavior but Svätý Mikuláš will forgive and hand over nice presents.
