Traditions in Slovenia

Mentor:Ana Meglič

Author: Valentin Kurnik

EASTER

•  is a festival and holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

• The week before Easter is called Holy Week

• Easter eggs are a popular cultural symbol of Easter.

MASQUERADE

• Everyone masks himself and goes to a parade.

• The important two days of masquerade are

Sunday and Tuesday.

Christmas

• Christmas trees are decorated in Slovenia, more often now with purchased decorations than with homemade decorations like in the past. 

• Children in Slovenia can receive gifts from St. Nicholas, Santa Claus and

St. Nicholas

Labour day

• The tradition of putting up the May pole in the evening of 30th April is still practiced in many areas of Slovenia.

•  A May pole is crafted from a pine tree which the young boys of the village are responsible for finding and cutting down.

• Choosing a tall tree is important. 

The independenceday

• Slovenia declared its independence on 25th June 1991.

• The following day, June 26, 1991, a ceremony both announcing and marking Slovenia’s independence was held in Ljubljana, and commemorative celebrations of Slovenian independence broke out across the new nation.

Prešeren’s day

• The Prešeren’s Day is a public holiday celebrated in Slovenia on 8th February. It is marking the anniversary of the death of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren who died in 1849.

• It was established in 1945 to raise the cultural consciousness and the self-confidence of the Slovene nation and declared as a work-free day in 1991.

Literature

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre%C5%A1eren_Day

• http://www.snpj.org/slovenian-culture/may-day

• http://www.snpj.org/slovenian-culture/slovenian-independence#page-7

• http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/othercountries/a/sloveniaschristmastraditions.htm

• http://www.slovenia.si/culture/tradition/