The Republic Of Croatia – UNESCO World Non-Material Cultural Heritage

Festa Sveti Vlaho Dubrovnik

Recently UNESCO World Non-Material Cultural Heritage List registered many sites in Croatia like The Dubrovnik Festa svetog Vlaha [Festival of St. Blaise], lace from Lepoglava, Dubrovnik’s patron, , Hvar and Pag, vocal duets in the narrow region of Istria and the Croatian Littoral, the art of developing conventional wooden toys from the Hrvatsko zagorje region, the annual spring procession of Ljelje (Queens) from Gorjani, the Za križen (Following the cross) procession on the island of Hvar and the annual carnival bell ringers’ pageant from the Kastav. When the UNESCO conference was held in Abu Dhabi, seven of the its cultural phenomena of Croatia were enlisted on the World Non-Material Heritage List and after this the country became the country with the largest number of protected cultural phenomena in Europe. Only Japan, China and Korea have more registered phenomena.

Many cultural phenomena were listed with the goal of being enlist on the list of the UNESCO and Croatia ended registering 16 of them. Some of the phenomena that were not registered this time around were Bećarac, a craft where Reklja, a woollen coat from Gradište is made, a traditional instrumental and vocal melody, a mute Dinaric dance (nijemo dinarsko kolo), the production of honey in northern Croatia, the Međimurje Carnival procession, the preparation of the traditional Soparnik dish and many others. Nearly 1037 years old the tradition of the Festival of St. Blaise began in 972, after a year of the saint prohibited the Venetians from raiding the town of Dubrovnik.

The most famous procession participants if the carnival magic in the country of Croatia are the bell ringers. Besides the Halubje bell ringers (Marčelji and Viškovo), there are quite a lot of more groups from Brgud, Bregi, Mučići, Rukavac, Mune, Zamet, and Žejane. The bell ringers from the west have numerous smaller bells around their waist, their faces are able to be seen and they also wear a hat with greenery and colourful paper flowers (krabujosnica), whereas on the other hand the bell ringers from the east wear big masks and a single large bell. The many centuries old traditional procession Za Križen (Following the Cross) on the island of Hvar happens on the night from Maundy Thursday till Good Friday when some thousand guests and local worshippers walk 27 kilometres following the cross. Convoys from all six parishes from Hvar leave in the evening, and they do not pass each other when they are on their way. The procession is led by a cross-bearer who is accompanied by two assistants; large candlesticks are carried by two followers, two lead singers and many people who react by singing the Lamentations of the Virgin Mary. All members of this convoy wear white brotherhood tunics. The priest then blesses the cross at the parish church and ropes it while the singers sing the Lamentations of the Virgin Mary and the walk then continues. There are many available records which write about the cross bleeding which happened on 6 February 1510 in the house of Nikola Bevilaqua when the riots between the masses and the noblemen were taking place.

The custom of narrow breaks in music in Istria and the Croatian Littoral has been the centre of much interest for Croatian researchers throughout the entire 20th century. In the 1920s Ivan Matetić Ronjgov established the term Istrian scale, disagreeing between its four basic types, but in the 80s, certain researchers initiated the term narrow intervals since it describes the complex relations between the tones in this tradition. The annual spring procession of Ljelje/Kraljice (Queens) from Gorjani near Đakovo is held on Whit Sunday and is characterized by colourful folk costumes with lavishly decorated high hats and Sabers.

After they are registered on the UNESCO list, lace made in Hvar , Lepoglava and Pag should benfit from the place they warrant in the future Eco-musueum of lace and its production in Lepoglava. The initial designs for this museum were presented six months back at the European Home in Zagreb. The museum should present the heritage of lace production in different parts of Europe. The aim is to renovate one of the buildings so it can be used as a museum. It would be located in the neighbourhood of the Pavlin monastery in Lepoglava, where three floors were decorated for lasting displays, a gallery for holding exhibitions occassopnally, a lace museum for children,beside other things.