PHOTOS: Festival celebrating best of Croatian culture and tradition opens

by croatiaweek
May 6, 2023
in Entertainment

Festival celebrating best of Croatia opens

(Photo credit: Darko Kesnjer)

The 5th Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Tourist Events, Attractions, and Destinations, “SVI zaJEDNO HRVATSKO NAJ” was ceremonially opened on May 5th in Vukovar, and will last until May 7th.

The festival’s three-day program will gather over 600 participants from all parts of Croatia in Vukovar, and it is a unique opportunity for visitors to get to know Croatia in a small area, with all the rich cultural heritage and traditions of our country.

The festival aims to preserve Croatian cultural heritage and nurture togetherness in Vukovar. The festival has grown year by year, and this year, during the three-day festival, visitors can once again get acquainted with various customs from all over Croatia.

(Photo credit: Darko Kešnjer)

Vukovar majorettes (Photo credit: Darko Kesnjer)

Furthermore, concerts by well-known musicians, Gibonni, klapa Šufit, and Giuliano, are expected to take place.

The festival’s opening ceremony included the Vukovar majorettes, the Vukovar nightingales choir, the Sinj knights, and the Kumpanjija knights from Blato.

Vukovar majorettes (Photo credit: Darko Kešnjer)

Sinj knights (Photo credit: Darko Kešnjer)

Kumpanjija knights from Blato (Photo credit: Darko Kešnjer)

The numerous audience at the opening was particularly impressed by the members of the KUU Milan Begović from Vrlika, who presented a silent circle dance, and the KUD Gorjanec, who presented the centuries-old tradition of the spring procession of Gorjanski Queens – Ljelja.

Ljelja (Photo credit: Darko Kešnjer)

At the opening ceremony, one of the oldest folk ensembles from Split, FA Jedinstvo, the Dubrovnik City Orchestra, the Babogredci Men’s Singing Group from Babina Greda, and the Vrilo klapa from Obrovac Sinjski, as well as the falconers and the Nobiles de Croatia Association, which is preparing an equestrian and scenic spectacle with Lipizzaner horses, also presented themselves.

Ljelja (Photo credit: Darko Kešnjer)

Lipizzaner horses are the main attraction of this year’s festival because they were recently added to UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Lipizzaner horses

During the opening ceremony, special awards were presented to guests and participants for their exceptional contribution to preserving Croatian cultural heritage.

Mayor Ivan Penava presented awards to the Sinj Knights, the City of Dubrovnik, the City of Vinkovci, the Vukovar majorettes, and festival ambassador Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni. The Vukovar majorettes, the Parish of St. Philip and James, the Tourist Board of the City of Sinj, the Tourist Board of the City of Vrbovec, and the Tourist Board of the City of Đakovo, as well as other guests and participants who have made an exceptional contribution to this festival and the promotion of Croatian heritage and tradition, also received awards.