HANDICRAFT

Handicraft is a unique expressions of art which represents a culture, tradition & the

heritage of a specific country. It beautifully keeps the age old culture alive & maintains the

craft's exotic legacy & tradition. Every country has its own

unique handicraft style bringing forth the diverse historical

aspects in beautiful forms of handicrafts. Highlighted with

distinct designs & finishes, the handicraft items speak loud &

clear about the excellent artistic skills of craftsmen which

makes the pieces absolutely invaluable.

Types of Handicraft

Major players are deeply involved in the

production of priceless handicraft items. It showcases the rich

cultural & architectural history of any nation.

There are distinct types of handicraft items which catches the fancy of art connoisseurs world over

Slovak Folklore and Traditions

Slovakia is a country with rich cultural traditions and customs. Out folklore is very distinctive and interesting. Slovaks are very proud to have such traditions and they

pass their folk songs, music and dance from generation to generation. There are many folk artistic groups keeping and representing these traditions. The most

famous are: SĽUK and Lúčnica in Bratislava and Šarišan in Prešov. Orava, Liptov and other regions situated on the North together with the region lying around Zemplín

on the East are the most important regions in keeping the folk customs and traditions. In the past, every district used to have not only its typical folk costumes but also its own dialect and customs. Many Slovak folk songs are ideal for dancing for being so rhythmical, swift and amusing. There can be also found some songs that are quite sad, but despite that, they are beautiful. They narrate about love among the people, their happiness and disappointments, natural beauties and love to the native land. You can hear them not only at folk festivals but they are

also taught at schools, so the people won’t forget their national cultural heritage. Representation of our folklore, as the folk music or the dance, can be seen on

regular folk festivals thorough Slovakia or abroad.

Traditional Slovak Handicraft

An annual traditional handicraft fair is held also in Nitra. Slovaks have a long tradition in manufacturing handicraft

products. They have always been great: woodcutters, ceramists,

potters, tinkers, weavers, blacksmiths and makers of fujary (fujara – a

typical musical instrument of Slovak shepherds – wooden long pipe tall as

a man), cat-o´- nine -tails, wicker products, bobbin and point laces, embroideries, jewellery, leather

products and products from the dry corn husks. Traditional Slovak villages

were embellished with decorated wooden houses.

Open- air museums even today offer the possibility to see a traditional Slovak

wooden village

Visitors can have a look inside the wooden houses and imagine our

ancestors´ everyday lives. The villages are concentrated in northern

Slovakia, as these regions have been the cradle of the Slovak folklore,

traditions and customs. Many traditions are kept until today. You

can see them mostly in the mountain settlements and villages in the Liptov

and Orava regions and in their neighbourhood. One nice tradition that has been maintained on the

whole Slovak territory is making and decorating home-made gingerbreads. They form an essential part of every Christmas table. The way of making them, necessary ingredients as well

as their shape and manner of decorating are different according to the traditions typical for the region.

woodcutterspotters

tinkers

blacksmiths

ceramists makers of fujary

Easter Picnic (Demonstration of a Slovak Easter tradition)

Here are few photos from a Slovak Easter picnic held in the Black Hills Regional Park on Easter “Saturday”, April 23rd, 2011. It was put together by Ludi from Washington D.C. Slovak Meetup. It was great. Not only was

the food delicious (big thanks to Ludi’s mom who was visiting from Slovakia), but Joan D., our resident master craftswoman, also came out to teach us how to decorate Slovak Easter eggs and how to weave the

Easter whips We had some delicious food, such as this giant Easter bread

that Ludi’s mom baked, and also potato salad, baked ham…

… and the elusive Easter “cheese” hrudka or

syrek. This is something I am completely

unfamiliar with, I think it’s a tradition more common in eastern

Slovakia. It’s bit of an acquired taste! The taste can be best described as

cold scrambled eggs – that’s basically what it

is, bunch of eggs pressed together. We also had some tasty sausages (klobásy).

And of course, koláče, my favorite! On the right is easy strudel.

And what would be a Slovak picnic without little slivovica (plum brandy) for good health? Na zdravie!

She brought in various Slovak folk art to show. These corn husk figurines and also the dolls in kroj are very traditional.

So is this crochet (háčkovanie). By the way, you can get these corn husk figurines, and many other kinds of Slovak

handicraft, from Slovak Import Company.

And of course, can’t have Easter without Easter eggs. There are many techniques for decorating them, but these shown here are among my favorites. The brown eggs are made with bees wax.

The red ones are first stained and then decorated by pieces of straw.

Easter whips

THE END !

by Šteňátko