The Galičnik Wedding Festival () is an annual festival held in the village of

Galičnik Galičnik () is a mountain village in North Macedonia and along with Lazaropole is one of the two biggest and oldest Mijak villages in the region. Galičnik has well-preserved traditional architecture, including an amphitheater in the village sq ...

(

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

) near the city of

Debar Debar ( ; , sq-definite, Dibra or Dibra e Madhe) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has an ethnic Albanian majorit ...

in which a selected couple gets married in the traditional "Galička" style wedding. Traditionally the wedding lasted for 5 days with the main activities on St. Peter and Paul's Day (12 July) every year. It was the only period of the year when couples got married. Today it is part of the festival "Galičko Leto" (

Summer) and it is a two-day event held on the weekend nearest to 12 July and it serves as a cultural and tourist attraction. During the wedding, men dance Teškoto, symbolizing the farewell moments of the local villagers who were leaving their homes to work abroad. Each year, couples from all over North Macedonia enter a competition run by the organisers to be the couple that gets to have a "Galička" style wedding. Every year, a new couple gets the opportunity.

External links

Festivals in North Macedonia Mavrovo and Rostuša Municipality Summer in North Macedonia Galičnik {{Europe-festival-stub