Croatian Functions and Traditions

Weddings are held on Saturdays and the extravagant event entertains 100-150 people.

The event lasts for a week.

Family and friends proudly present their gifts or money is given in envelopes.

Music and alcoholic drinks or any choice of yours, if you don't fancy the taste of alcoholic juices, are served.

The Croatian salted pork and cheese are snacks with French salads that are served on a platter.

The event is celebrated with close relatives and neighbours. I enjoyed the experience of Croatian weddings. It is new to me and I am always up for a dance.

Croatian Celebrations

February is celebrated with colourful masks and costumes. Like in Halloween celebrations, Croatians celebrate with masks and different colourful or themed costumes.

People around the neighbourhood get together to dress up in different costumes, and masks and knock on each door for a treat, as in trick-a-treating for Halloween.

I participated in this parade in the years 2003 and 2004. Thereafter, people lost interest in the event.

Most of the older generation live in the village so not many people want to go ahead with their traditions.

They have become older, passed on or have lost interest at an old age to perform these traditions.

Catholic Celebrations

On the Eve of Christmas, most people attend church services. I attended a few services and it was an interesting experience. The local people visit the neighbors, with each other and have small shots of homemade liquors and homemade snacks.

It is exciting and everyone is happy and enjoying this day to the fullest. The New Year is quieter because Christmas is the most celebrated. Youth celebrate together and go out to clubs and concerts of Croatian singers.

The little events improved my positive thoughts to continue my journey to Croatia. You can make your life comfortable anywhere in this world.

I chose to make my life in Croatia even though I know the difficulties this country has in politics and in its slow-growing economy.

I learned a great deal on my own and in living this life but not from the opinions of other people.

People help each other if needed.

I created my comfortable life and don't miss out on the daily updates of the outside world. Modern technology allows for access to anything we want and need and the Internet is available to all ages.

I write and share my stories online and am proud of how far I have come in a foreign country. An outlet for feeling good is to share my experience and feel good afterwards.

The people and places that still stick out for me the most are those that I met and visited in Croatia.

Croatian traditional family time is different to Westernized family time.

I observed family time in Croatia and discovered that family time is about having a meal together or working in the fields.

Their expressions are different to an expat like I am, and this is what I see from my point of view.

Families share their rich traditional values with other families and friends. The meaningful days for Catholics are namesake days, Easter celebrations, Christmas holidays and other holidays as stated in the Catholic calendar.

I don’t follow these holidays but know when these days are celebrated. First Communion for our son was celebrated while still in high school.

Croatia has a rich culture and holds that lifestyle for many generations. I share my experiences with a friendly community. What the writer has discovered in many different lifestyles in Croatia is an amazing experience.

Each region has its foods and lifestyles and is different to the next.

The style of traditional clothing in the southeastern part of Croatia, on the territory of what once was the Dubrovnik Republic.

There, stretches the beautiful Konavle range, where the soft, downy silk moth has been cultivated for centuries.

The main reason for its cultivation is the exquisite folk costume made of sturdy homemade cloth.

The homemade cloth has sewn-on patches and beautiful embroidery done in soft home-spun silk. Most famous and elegant attire is renowned for its blue and black cloth for its white scarves that seem like sails, including the richly embroidered cuffs, also, the busts on the woman's dress.

Men's costumes sport silk on waistcoats, and on cummerbunds which at one time served to retain silver-encrusted weapons; daggers, Sabres and pistols. The people of Konavle had a connection with silk from the day they were born to the day they died.

A silken thread was used to secure a dead person's foot, and hands crossed on the chest. The Silk Road found its new natural cradle.

There was a time when almost every woman in a small village called Cilipi in Konavle, scattered over seven hills had carried a cocoon of silk moth in her bosom.

Croatia did not lag other countries of Eastern Europe in the cultivation of the silk moth and silk production.

As early as 1018 the town of Rab was paying a tribute to several pounds of pure silk produced in Rab, to Venice.

I attended the event in Cilipi. The small village not far from my village is part of the Konavle region. I had watched the traditional dance. It was an incredible experience to see how the story holds the music and dance all together.

Men led the women and danced at a fast pace. I experienced many great moments in Croatia. Now looking back at the small places where I had visited and had enjoyed I changed from those beautiful moments.

The Silk Road is perceived as the long land communication route between Asia and Europe, as an image of a massive ball of silken thread that has been unravelling for centuries over thousands of kilometres.

That is replete with priceless experiences, ideas, and inventions. I am amazed by each region with a different style of traditional dressing.

The different coloured clothing looks attractive and very pretty. It takes time to dress up in a traditional outfit.

I met an old lady and she is one of the oldest ladies in the village who daily wears the traditional outfit.

She had to get up much earlier to get dressed and each set of clothing she put on had to be on an accurate set and fitting.

It took her at least an hour and a half to fit into the parts of the outfit. Someone at a young age will take half an hour to get into the traditional outfit. I was asked to dress up in the traditional outfit, but I am not sure if I want to do that.

However, it is something for me to think about and will try not to be shy when or if I take on that challenge. Korcula is an island in which the Marco Polo family lived continually from the thirteenth century and almost to this day.

Other families even living in other parts of Croatia are still pointed out as part of the Polo family.

An interesting history relates the Polo family to the island of Korcula. The house of Marco Polo in Korcula is a part of a guided sightseeing tour of the old town of Korcula.

I found what was possibly the house of Marco Polo a picturesque late-Gothic ruined with a Renaissance tower. I wonder what inspired Marco Polo to dream about things on the other side of the mountain of Korcula.

Sabre Dance Moreska Korcula during the Festival of Chivalric Games: dances and tourneys like the photos as presented here are of the Moreska performed to the sound of bagpipes and drums when Sabre clash sparks fly.

I have not yet seen this great performance but would like to at some time.

Despite the high level of emigration in the past, the island of Korcula remains one of the most dynamic of the Croatian islands.

Alongside being engaged in tourism, shipyards and stone quarrying, vineyards and olive groves in wine cellars and oil works in which the golden olive oil is produced.

The Islanders find time to involve themselves in their traditional festivities.

They take part at a time of the year.

In the city of Korcula itself it is the Moreska that is performed: a war dance with Sabre, the event is on the first Wednesday of July when one can see all the dances performed in the city.