From seminar workshops to the “Dužijanca” celebration, Tavankut once again demonstrated that the centuries-old heritage of Bunjevac Croats is preserved through living tradition, togetherness, and faith.
At the beginning of July, Tavankut once again became a place of meeting, learning and living the heritage of Bunjevac Croats. Organized by the “Matija Gubec” Croatian Cultural and Educational Society and held from July 6 to 11, the jubilee 15th Seminar of Bunjevac Creativity gathered some fifty participants from Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. This year’s topic was the Dužijanca celebration, a century-old harvest custom of Bunjevac Croats; therefore, the entire program focused on fieldwork, thanksgiving for bread, and preserving shared cultural and religious identity.
For fifteen years already, the seminar has been transferring knowledge about Bunjevac dances, songs, music, customs, folklore costumes and everyday life. The most popular was the folklore workshop, where the participants learned the “bunjevačko”, “momačko” and “gajdaško kolo” dance, with special emphasis on the original technique, dynamics and style of performance. The program also covered traditional melodies for the tamburitza, practice on traditional instruments such as the “gajde”, and workshops in artistic straw-work, for which Tavankut is well known beyond Serbia’s borders. The participants not only rehearsed the performances, but also learned about the customs and historical context, analyzed the old recordings of the dancers and learned about Bunjevac traditional costumes. Staying in the environment where this heritage originated and still lives on gave the seminar its special value.
The seminar ran in parallel with the 41st convocation of the First Straw-Art Naive Colony, which drew 27 straw artists, including guests from Croatia and Srijemska Mitrovica, as well as seminar participants from Slovenia. The final program was held on July 11 at the Cultural Center in Donji Tavankut and included the colony’s closing and the “Risarska Večer” event, which symbolically paved the way for the central Tavankut “Dužijanca” celebration.
– Members of “Matija Gubec” Croatian Cultural and Educational Society at the holy mass on the occasion of the “Dužijanca”
The day after, on July 12, a holy mass of thanksgiving was celebrated in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, presided over by Msgr. Dr. Andrija Anišić, President of the “Dužijanca” Association of Bunjevac Croats. This year’s celebration was led by the harvest leaders, the “bandašica” Milica Tikvicki and the “bandaš” Nemanja Pokornić, with the little “bandašica” Marija Žarić and the little “bandaš” Ivan Vojnić. Bread from new grain was brought to the altar, and a straw crown was made by the famous straw artist from Tavankut, Jozefina Skenderović.
After the Mass, the “Matija Gubec” Association organized a cultural and artistic program in front of the church, and the celebration continued in the evening with the “Bandašicino kolo” dance.
This year’s “July Days” event in Tavankut has once again shown that tradition is best preserved when it is viewed not only as a memory, but when it is transmitted by knowledge, work, song, dance and shared celebration. The seminar and Dužijanac thus merged into a single whole – from learning about heritage to its full life in the community.
Text and photo: Lucija Starčević
