Moravian Slovakia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Folk architecture in Moravian Slovakia - entrance to a wine cellar in Kyjov

The Slovacko (Czech and Slovak Slovácko or Moravské Slovensko is) an area in the southeast of the Czech Republic (in the historic land Moravia ) located in the southeast on the Slovakia and on the south by Austria borders, with the northern boundary of the area is fluent not defined and accurately . Roughly speaking, the line of the Mars Mountains can be used as the north-western boundary of Moravian Slovakia .

Moravian Slovakia thus roughly includes the areas around the cities of Uherské Hradiště ( Hungarian Hradish ), Uherský Brod ( Hungarian Brod ), Břeclav ( Lundenburg ), Hodonín ( Göding ), Strážnice ( Strasbourg ) and Kyjov ( Gaya ), whereby the affiliation to this region is less defined geographically, but rather by the traditions, the music, the costumes, the dialect and the wine.

nature and landscape

Lednice Castle with a park and palm house

Centuries of farming , viticulture and fruit and vegetable growing on z. The landscape as it exists today has produced and shaped the landscape as it exists today.

In Moravian Slovakia there are two UNESCO biosphere reserves, the White Carpathians ( Bílé Karpaty ) and the Pollau Mountains ( Pálava ), and the Lednice-Valtice cultural landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The White Carpathians, the highest point of which is the Velká Javořina at 970 m , on the border with Slovakia, occupy an area of ​​715 square kilometers. The area with its extensive slopes, species-rich meadows and groups of individual trees was elevated to the status of a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1996. The Pollau Mountains, a smaller area with an area of ​​83 square kilometers, were recognized as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1986.

The Lednice-Valtice cultural landscape is considered to be the largest composed landscape unit in Europe and perhaps even in the world. On an area of ​​almost 200 square kilometers, a large landscape park with the Lednice ( Eisgrub ) and Valtice ( Feldsberg ) castles in the center was created at the instigation of the Princes of Liechtenstein between the early 18th and mid-19th centuries . In 1996 the area was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Attractions

folklore

Customs and events

Ride of the Kings in Vlčnov, 2007 - the King
Couple in folk costume

The " Slovácke Hody " is held almost everywhere (at different times, mostly in late summer or autumn) in rural areas but also in large cities or their districts (e.g. in Komín or Jundrov in Brno) . In addition to setting up a decorated "tree", similar to the maypole (májka) , various dance choreographies and associated rituals are held according to fixed, traditional rules. This tradition is very popular.

The Kosecké písně in festival is a mowing competition in the Buchlovice chateau park , attended by focolore clubs from all over the region. Meadow areas of around 40 square meters are marked on which the participants mow with scythes , whereby speed and thoroughness are the criteria. The festival begins at 4 a.m., when the grass is still dew and is best mowed, and continues until noon. Traditional peasant songs are sung at work.

The ride of the kings (Czech: jízda králů) took place in the 19th and early 20th centuries in many places in Moravia, but also in Slovakia and Hungary. It now only exists in five villages in South Moravia, with the Ride of the Kings in Vlčnov being the most famous of its kind. According to the story, tradition goes back to the flight of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus after a lost battle, who is said to have escaped his enemies unrecognized in women's clothing. The return of the Bohemian King Wenceslaus II from captivity in Brandenburg is also considered a possible model. In fact, it is a variant of the traditional spring tour, which can also be found in other European countries, comparable to the Sorbian Easter horse riding . A king - usually a boy between the ages of eleven and sixteen - is elected at the festival ; on that day he wears the local woman's costume and a white paper flower in his mouth, which is supposed to prevent him from speaking accidentally because he has to be silent for twenty-four hours. Accompanied by a procession of horsemen, the king's entourage, collecting donations and shouting out traditional verses, the king rides through the village.

Costumes

The traditional costumes are very colorful and differ from place to place. Only wide, white and embroidered shirts for men are uniform, from light beige to blue to black colored trousers and vests, as well as jackets and coats in the same color, and a, usually smaller, hat with usually only a small brim. The women wear colored skirts, wide, white and mostly embroidered blouses and usually a headscarf.

The costume is still mostly worn today for celebrations of (village) life, by older women sometimes in very rural areas even on ordinary Sundays. Since the velvet revolution and the change of epochs in Czechoslovakia in 1989 - after a phase of state support and protegation in the late 1940s and 1950s and the subsequent decline of folk art - a revival of the traditions from below began in the 1990s, which until continues today and is also cared for by the next generation.

music and dance

The music plays an essential role in maintaining tradition and a typical chapel from Moravian Slovakia includes double bass, violin and cymbal (dulcimer), occasionally also a clarinet, and smaller and larger choirs sing, both with instrumental accompaniment and a cappella . Folklore groups also perform traditional folk dances at events. The Verbuňk recruiting dance , which dates back to the 18th century, has been part of the UNESCO intangible heritage since 2005 .

language

In Moravian Slovakia , as in the whole of the Czech Republic, the official language is Czech . The Moravian language differs slightly from the Czech in the Bohemian part of the country, but it does not result in any comprehension difficulties. The Moravian-Slovak dialects form one of the three major dialect groups of Moravian. On the one hand, they are characterized by their proximity to Slovakia (as the name "Moravian Slovakia" already indicates) and, on the other hand, by the relatively high proportion of German-speaking residents until 1945. More German loanwords have been preserved in the dialect than in the written language, such as flaška (German pronunciation: Flaschka) for bottle (Czech: láhev, Slov. Fľaška) or Obršlag (German pronunciation: Oberschlag) for a collar on a costume, Šnuptichl (German pronunciation: Schnupptichel) for handkerchief (from Austrian: Schnupftuch) or Štreka (German pronunciation: Strecka) for route / way. There are also other differences in pronunciation, some of which are similar to Slovak , although the dialectal differences in the Czech Republic are historically less pronounced than, for example, in the south of the German-speaking area.

Regional products

Wine

Alois Kalvoda: Slovácko - Pohled k sv. Antonínku (view of St. Anthony's Chapel). Oil on canvas, 1906

The Slovácká vinařská podoblast is one of the four Moravian wine-growing sub-regions . The vineyards stretch from the hot and low-lying valley of the March in the southwest to the hilly and cooler foothills of the White Carpathians. 115 municipalities grow wine in the sub-region on over 4500 hectares, and almost every village has extensive vineyards and wine cellars. Both red and white wines are produced, both of which are partly of high quality, with white wine dominating. The most important white wine varieties in terms of quantity are Müller-Thurgau (555 ha), Grüner Veltliner (406), Pinot Blanc (337) and Riesling (444), with St. Laurent (307) and Blaufränkisch (362) taking up the largest area of red wines . The cultivation is often only carried out in smaller quantities for personal consumption, but it is also produced to a greater extent for sale, and increasingly also for export. Typical for the region is a small, stemless wine glass in the shape of a cup with a capacity of around 5 cl. Wine festivals and tastings take place in many places in autumn.

Fruit brandies

Plum brandy or Slivovitz ( Slivovice ) and apricot brandy ( Meruňkovice ) are typical fruit brandies made from plums (Slíva) or apricots (Meruňka) cultivated in the region. They have between 40% and 60% alcohol and are either made in the 200 or so licensed Moravian small distilleries for fruit growers ( Pěstitelské pálenice ) or sometimes even distilled themselves.

Web links

Commons : Moravian Slovakia  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • slovacko.cz - guide to the region (in Czech, German and other languages)
  • malovanykraj.cz - Folklore magazine about Moravian Slovakia (Czech)
  • slovackemuzeum.cz - Homepage of the Folklore Museum in Uherské Hradiště

Remarks

  1. ^ "Invitation" to the Hody in Jundrov 2014
  2. "Hody" pictures of the festivities
  3. folklornisdruzeni.cz
  4. hradiste.cz ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Images of the costumes in the individual communities @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.hradiste.cz
  5. unesco.org
  6. Entry on the Moravian language in the Encyclopedia of the European East ( Memento of the original from October 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 166 kB); Stanislava Kloferová: German language reflexes in Czech lexicography . In: Ernst Bremer, Reiner Hildebrandt: Status and tasks of German dialect lexicography: II. Walter de Gruyter, 1996, pp. 49–56. ( google books ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / wwwg.uni-klu.ac.at
  7. ^ Description of the viticulture sub-region ; Statistics (Czech) ( Memento of the original from July 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wineofczechrepublic.cz