MY SUMMER 1994 TRIP TO SLOVAKIA

PART TWO

From there we continued to the now international border of Slovakia and Czech republic. In the whole Europe both countries of the crossing are doing their check. I should mention that I am also a citizen of the Slovak Republic and I do have valid Canadian and Slovak passports. I presented the Slovak passport to the officer, who also asked me for the papers to the car and my driving license. Of course at this international border crossing, this border guard only spoke Slovak and couldn't figure out the British Columbia’s driving license. At the end everything went well and we were allowed to the Czech republic checkpoint. They only looked at our passports, said hi, asked where we were going, upon our reply that we are going to the Straznice's festival, they smiled and wished us well. Straznice is not far from the border.

The festival in Straznice takes place in the park of the castle where numerous performing stages and open-air theatres have been built over the years. This was the 49th year of the Straznice's International Folk Festival. This festival is really big and numerous performances take place simultaneously at different stages. The biggest hit of this year's festival was program directed by Cyril Zalesak, called "The bearers of traditions," men's dances of the Carpathian region. It included groups from Slovakia, Moravia, Hungary and Romania.

I've met lot of new people and made many friends at Straznice. One of the highlights of the festival was the visit to the Straznice's skanzen, an open air folk museum of Southern Moravian architecture combined with the wine tasting in the old wine maker's houses. Early Sunday, June 26, while still at the Straznice's festival I have traveled to Western Slovakia's town of Čachtice, where father William S. Lacko S.J. was going to celebrate his first mass in Slovakia, 46 years after being ordained to the priesthood and 48 years following his departure from Slovakia. This was by for the most memorable Sunday service in my life and I am very happy that I was present.

In the afternoon I returned to Straznice for some more performances and in the evening I have traveled to Zvolen again.

On Monday we have visited my friend the mayor of Chrenovec-Brusno Emil Trgina, who is also the director of folk group Hajicek had a bond fire at one of the group members yard, roasted some bacon and sausages, sang few songs and in the morning we visited our friend Elza Dadikova, who just returned from vacation in USA and Bahamas visiting her sister. She took us for a private visit of the Bojince's Castle. Bojnice was the host of the world festival of ghosts and black magic, with plans to repeat the successful event annually. Later on in the afternoon we went with another friend of mine from Bojnice, Staza Kubova director of the Bojnice's cultural center to a near-by village of Vysehradne, very close to Nitrianske Pravno. Here she owns a summer cottage with some land where she grows vegetables. Her friend’s, master potter Rastislav Haronik's house has been awarded a diploma by an American Express Foundation sponsored organization Europa Nostra for protection of European Architectural and natural heritage.

Next day I visited the home of my Vancouver friends and grand parents of little Claudia in Telgart and was taken to the spring of the one of the most sung about rivers of Slovakia, Hron. Hron's spring is under the mount Besnik, few miles above the village. A small little log house shelters the spring. I have passed by this location several times over the years, not knowing that I am passing the spring of Hron. It is really sad that there is no sign pointing to it that a driver in a passing car could easily recognize. Old saying says that. "This place is the beginning of water and the end of bread." In the old days the bread was baked in Brezno and Telgart was the last village of the county. They were the first village for tax collections and the last one for bread. There is abundance of water in the surrounding hills, but the harvest is always small as Telgart lies high in the mountains.

Later on in the day, on the way to Bratislava, I was surprised by many women in the village of Polomka wearing folk dresses and bonnets, all walking in the same direction. I passed through the village, later realizing that today is a day of St. Peter and St. Paul and that the women are probably on the way to the church. So I turned around, followed them and they led me to the church located at the east end above the village. More than half of the women in the church were wearing beautiful bonnets. I do have one here in Burnaby, a gift from my friend Jelka Faltanyova. Later on I visited the museum in Brezno. Brezno is about half way between Telgart and Banska Bystrica. I was very surprised to learn that my Toronto friend Ondro Mihal was just opening an exhibit of some excellent photos from his travels through Slovakia, later on the same day. Ondro was working on contract basis for few months for Matica Slovenska.

I stopped also in Banska Bystrica, at the offices of "Vecernik" the towns evening paper, to visit my friend journalist Pavol Kubis with whom I went to the forest above Banska Bystrica to a salas. Here I learned how the sheep's cheese, zincica and ostiepky are made. Later on I went to Bratislava.

The next day I visited the Stefanik's Monument a pyramid in Ivanka, close to Bratislava's airport, the site where Stefanik's plane went down on May 4,1919.

I was soon on the way to the festival in Vychodna. I went through Kremnica to Martin where I paid a visit to my friend Monika Barabasova, still not working, but feeling better and I was very happy to see her mother as well. I did get another great recipe from her and I hope that I won't forget the main ingredient. I rushed to Vychodna as this was the 40 th year of the festival, promising to be the best ever. Here I met the new director of the press center Karel Ilja Dvorak. I found him very interesting as he is of Moravian nationality and has lived in Liptovsky Mikulas for only eight years. He speaks Slovak fluently, writes in Slovak for several newspapers, recently published a book about how the villages and towns came to their names, "Slovenske Legendy, Slovak Legends." The first program of the festival was dedicated to the first performers of the Vychodna festival, the folk groups from villages of Liptov. This was followed by an excellent performance of Lucnica under the direction of my friend Prof. Stefan Nosal. After their performance later on in the evening many of my friends and I went to the cottage of our friend Miroslav Kapasny located at the bank of the river Vah under Strbske Pleso, few miles from the village of Vazec. We were singing and dancing till the early morning hours and later on rushed to Vychodna as the first performance, "The message of Easter and the Holy Trinity" stared at 9:00 AM in the Roman Catholic Church. Later on I participated in the "School of Dance III" of villages of Vazec, Strba and Vychodna under the direction of my friend Peter Homolka. He is dynamite, it seemed so easy, and it was. In half an hour he accomplished a lot with about 200 students. Every year, Saturday afternoon there is a parade of folk groups through the village ending at the festival grounds. Later on in the day there was a great program of children's folk dance groups followed by "Our Guests," foreign participants of the festival. The evening started with program of villages' folk groups called "The bearers of our traditions." I truly enjoyed the programs of the village groups, as it is clean untouched folk art passed on from generation to generation. Here one sees the real and true customs of our ancestors, listen to non-arranged music and songs, as the people used to sing and play them many generations ago. This is the real folklore.

Following was a program called "From the creations of our folk dance groups." After the program we went again to the Kapasny's cottage, but this time many musicians have joined us for a great night of singing and dancing and great music. Sunday morning was the day of celebrating with the first program "Greetings to the Jubilant festival" by groups from Myjava. Detva, Slovenska Lupca, Bratislava and Kosice.

The final program, with the presence of the President of The Slovak Republic, Ing. Michal Kovac CSc. was called "Our Family." It was really hot that afternoon and since I had Hawaiian Tropic 45 plus UVA protection sun block, having my Press badge on, I passed thorough the security and offered the sun block to the president and Mrs. Kovac and the rest of the politicians sitting next to them, making jokes about being burned. At first they were reluctant, but they all used it. So I can say that the Hawaiian Tropic 45 plus UVA protection sun block saved the most important part of the Slovak government from guaranteed sun strokes later on.

Shortly after the arrival of the president’s entourage and about a minute from the start of a direct television broadcast my friend from San Diego, Mrs. Eleonore Rusnak had asked me to introduce her to the President. I did introduce her to the President and translated her greetings from English to Slovak. The program was simply fantastic and it included the finest folk dance groups of Slovakia and for the first time ever a group of mentally and physically challenged dancers from integrated folk dance group Javorcek Bezanka from Bratislava. The pearl of the program was Milan Chvastek from Terchova with his funny songs.

From Vychodna I went again to Telgart as my friends from Vancouver were visiting their family there. The next morning we tried to go to Kralova Hola by car. We never made it, as the car overheated several times on the steep hill, so I went to the Dobsinna Ice caves instead and then on to Rejdova, Stitnik and also a gothic Catholic church from the second half of the 13th century in Chyzne, where a small altar by master Pavol from Levoca is located. July 5, is a national holiday in Slovakia, the day of Sts. Cyril and Method.

Few days later, on the way to Detva's 29th festival I visited an old medieval mining town of Banska Stiavnica, that was named by the UN as a World Heritage Site. I visited brother Sovc, formerly from Hronsek, recently transferred here. While visiting the old castle I enjoyed a really good lecture by Liana Petkova from Tekovska Breznica.

I arrived in Detva early afternoon, finding that their video maker didn't show up and I was asked to tape the whole festival. So I did what I could. I lost a day of festival doing the rehearsals in Zvolen for the Sunday program called "Our family from around the World." This program is sponsored by Matica Slovenska for Slovak individuals and folk dance groups from around the word. I did sing six songs from the Upper Hron region with the folk music Valaska under leadership of my friend Adriana Valaskova. I goofed numerous times, as this was my first ever-singing performance in front of such a huge audience. It was fun and worth it and I am really proud that I did perform at Detva.

CONTINUE TO PART THREE

GO BACK TO TRAVEL

Published in the Slovak Heritage Live newsletter Volume 2, No. 3, Fall 1994
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 1994 
3804 Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article may not be copied, reproduced, republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without the express written permission of Vladimir Linder. All rights reserved.