Customs in Spania Dolina

Wedding used to be not only newly married couple celebration but also a celebration of the whole village. Everybody was on his feet - the whole week before the wedding. Cakes were made - at next-door neighbours, relatives, simply at the whole family. it was completely different as it is now. Especially in the children's eyes. And what was a viklbant! It was 5 cm wide and 3 m long ribbon held by two boys across the path in front of the church. When a procession was passing by people were throwing coins into their up side down hats. At richer weddings, instead of hats there were white plates to collect the bigger money. After the procession was gone boys divided the money among themselves and caught up with the procession because there were more. People from the bride - groom escort were also throwing cakes and cookies at the people along the street. The procession had a substantial length in the end. They all were heading to the bride's house. Who wasn't invited staid outside and watched the dances through the windows. Here and there somebody came out and brought more cookies and brandy to the onlookers.
And the dances? I couldn't understand it then. But it was something like jumping dance -polka in two steps. Between dances there were games, kind of school children's games: people made a circle, hold hands, and turned once to the right, once to the left and sang: "Pod oblôčkom vyskakoval..."

Bobbin lace / partičke, bobbins - kneple, pins - ihličke, and Šachtičky (now ski resort) was called Šachtička and nobody has the right to call it differently. Making bobbin laces is an ancient craft in Spania Dolina. It used to be women's job while the men were working underground in mines. In the evenings women used to gather in cottages, singing, chatting and making laces. Those evenings were all news. They knew everything about what had happened. Of course they made it up a bit but that's quite typical. During summer days they worked outside on the square called Pľac, near a firehouse, under the linden tree, at Grôb, in front of Júdov, at Strelnica or sitting on the wooden benches in front of their houses.

What they used to cook?
The main foodstuff was: potatoes, flour, milk and vegetables. Lard and sugar were luxuries. So, what can you cook in a jiffy? Cooked potatoes to go with acid milk, baked potatoes with salt, "halusky" = pasta with cheese, and "stiarc" - a typical folk food (pasta made from cooked potatoes dough), corn porridge with onion, beans and peas soup. To get flour the women had to walk bare feet to Zvolen – town 50 km away. More luxurious meals were: poultry, mutton, beef cooked in soup with vegetables, potatoes pancakes served with herbal tea and scrambled eggs. Around Spania Dolina there were small fields to grow just potatoes and pastures. People bread sheep, cows and goats. I still remember the time during the II. World War when we had to sell our poor cow (Citrona) to a butcher. My mum petted her as a sister, and cried as she was at funeral.

And the places Pasovisko and Ludvika! Pasovisko was a far pasture above Uľanka. Through that our men used to walk from night (from 4 in the morning) to night (to 10 in the evening) to Harmanec. They light their way with carbide lights that twinkled like lantern -flies.

On Ludvika there stand weathered ruins. We built a stage there once. We were doing it for a couple of weeks - stones, rock, sand, and rotten wood. We constructed a base and then with bed sheets we surrounded the stage and made a stage curtain. Mr. Štepánek - a very sympathetic teacher helped us. He came from Morava and thought in Špania for two years. The show was to be performed on Sunday after the litany. There were posters, advertising in the church on the pulpit. 50 spectators turned up.. (Savolts from Rotik's, Tokars form Kustat's, Strics from Medricky's …) The thoroughly learn t play Ants & Crickets was not shown. Malicious sprouts from Grôb pulled down the stage, torn to parts the curtain. The whole collective cried instead of celebrating and disappointed parents left.

There were 3 pubs in the village at that time: the main on the Plac, the second at Notar's - there stands the council house now (next to the school*) and the third at Teper's. Then the village was at the top of its prosperity. Sometimes a marry-go- round came up onto the Plac, seesaws, animal quarter and also Dubsky's puppet theater.

Gentleman's garden - the center of the village Plac, under the trees, that was a gentleman's place for adults on Sundays, for youngsters it was theirs in the evenings during weekdays. Along the garden there was a skittle-alley, which echoed throughout the village all weekends. In the Gentleman's garden rag days were organized as well as dances, end of school year plays (Peter &Paul's day). The games we played were; bag-jumping, running with egg on a soup spoon, eating of big, circle cakes hanging from the trees, jumping on one leg.

Before every weekend a public bath at the back of the pub was in full operation. The bathtubs had numbers from 1 to 8. I have to underline that even though there wasn't any cobblestone pavement in the village but sand or dust, nevertheless households were always tidy. People had bath on Sundays (bath barrels were hidden behind the kitchen door in some houses) they were shared by more families - half an hour each. I remember that we often washed ourselves in cold water as a punishment. Who refused to wash was threaten not to be allowed to go to church on Sunday and that was the culture center; masses were the richest liturgy along with thyme and church bells composed the strongest theatrical experience.

Christmas - Gäjdice - that was Haven. We knew nothing about presents. It was enough to have Christmas cakes - horseshoe shaped - sprinkled with poppy seeds and in better off families with nuts. We also got apples with coins stuck into them. Sometimes the apples were a bit brownish but we couldn't care less. Rockets also represented celebrations. In the church, I've remembered till this day, everybody proud of themselves, especially on their way between the benches. People came even from Zamperg, with carbit lanterns, through the high snow, but the boots always withhold the wet. The Jesus has always done the lobbing for everybody, so we listened carefully, singing… "alone the holy stays awake, the sacred Lord…"

Procession - the uncle Trnovský , representative by his body and soul, walked always in a first row. Procession to Stare Hory, to The Holy Trinity, to the Crosses, at Corpus Christi, Easter - he handled everything, newer missed a thing. The whole village loved him. he lived in Duchovna street, the same as aunt Karolina - the village midwife, always on the spot when exhausted mothers were giving birth. In the same street also lived vestry keeper, bell ringer and the deacon Mr. Selecky, and what's more Michal - son of aunt Karolina used to ring the bells and pleased me a lot when he let me swing the middle bell.

Apropos Rattle! On The Green Thursday and The Great Friday. All the youngsters got to the tower and took turns at the big rattle, serving on those days instead of bells. What it was about was, who spins it the most.

The rarity for us boys were the miner's galleries at Ludvika and Fajtlova, at the cross, not far from Klopacak }the summon house), but also the small gallery stretching under Plac - the plaza. From it a small string flowed from the upper village end down to the village center. Even now I shiver when I think about how we had waded through that low and dangerous place, bare feet, tenths of meters. And the visits to Fajtlova and Ludvika, it was a nightmare - through the galleries, neither reinforced walls nor ceilings, they could have fallen any time. Through them or from them freezing water streamed out. To wander through such galleries was the same exciting as climbing to the peaks of the highest mountains in the world.

Spania Dolina's song lyrics:

"That miner's tower, reaching too high, over it a wild goose flew.

It wasn't a goose, it were little gees

To God I commend you

sending good bye

to the village girls"

* it has changed now, school serves also as the council house, the actual building has been pulled down.

Prepared and translated by Jana Scholtz, 2006