''Vinkovačke jeseni'' or the ''Autumns of Vinkovci'' in English, is an annual folklore festival deeply rooted in the local tradition of the town of

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city settlement's population was 28,111 in the 2021 census, while the total population was 30,842, making it the largest town of the county. It is a local tr ...

in eastern

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Established in 1966, this festival has become a significant cultural event not only in Vinkovci but also in the broader region of

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

, alongside events like '' Brodsko kolo'' and ''

Đakovački vezovi ''Đakovački vezovi'' (, English: ''Embroideries of Đakovo'') is the biggest traditional festival in Đakovo, Croatia. The festival of ''Đakovački vezovi'' was founded in 1967, on the occasion of the international year of tourism. It is con ...

''.

History

The inaugural Vinkovačke Jeseni took place in 1966. At the core of this festival lies a dedicated focus on the preservation of folk dances, traditional attire, and customs. The primary aim is to ensure the enduring vitality of the traditional cultural values embedded in the lives of the people of Slavonia.

General

''Vinkovačke jeseni'' are held each year in the month of September, which is also the beginning of

autumn Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...

, after which this festival got its name. The reason for establishment of this festival is that the autumn is the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

that awards the most to the People of Slavonia for their hard labor. This festival has soon started to bind all of those who are lovers of cultural heritage, dialects, and old customs. In the days of the festival the audience finds out everything about the diversity of the folklore in Slavonia, and about the foreign folklores that also participate in ''Vinkovačke jeseni''. The

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

is for the duration of the festival provisionally made, and is designed as an open-air Stage. The

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress and/or makeup of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, occupation, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch—in short, culture. The term also was traditionally used to describe typica ...

s and the

scenography Scenography is the practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography can be defined as the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of plac ...

are thematic so in that comes the beauty of shapes and colors of the

garments Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of ma ...

and the sounds of

tamburica Tamburica ( or ; sometimes written tamburrizza or tamburitza; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", tamburica, тамбурица, little tamboura) or tamboura (; ) refers to a family of long-necked lutes popular in Southeast Europe and southeastern ...

and

gaida Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, Nor ...

to light.

Attractions

* The Opening Ceremony - one of the most visited Events during the ''Vinkovačke jeseni''. The “Opening Ceremony” is actually a mass of people that goes along the streets of Vinkovci and observes the progress of the parade. In this event it is significant to mention the procession of the horsepeople on the

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s that move in front of the procession of the people, together with majorettes accompanied by a

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

and participans in folk costumes. * The Review of Original Croatian Folklore - The Review begins after the ''Opening Ceremony'', and lasts for two days. On the review, at first, enter the two most successful folklore associations, first the ones from Vinkovci, and then the other folklore associations from all over Croatia. * Folklore Evenings - On the folklore evenings are sung songs from around Croatia. The folklore evenings are thought for the restored, and for newly launched folklore societies. * Small Talks of the

Šokci Šokci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Šokci, Шокци, , ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Šokac, Шокац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Šokica, Шокица; ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native t ...

- This is an event, whose task is to represent the former way of life of the People of Slavonia, and to remember how one used to live in Slavonia. * Courtyard of Ideas – workshops and performances in the Lapidarium of the Vinkovci City Museum. * concerts by international participants

Criticism

In late September 2017, the event faced criticism from local representatives of the Serbian Cultural Society "Prosvjeta". The critique centered on the festival's longstanding exclusion of the folk cultures of ethnic minorities in Croatia in the period after the end of the

Croatian War of Independence The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...

, particularly the exclusion of the Serb community's folklore groups, community which accounted for 15.50% of the entire population of Vukovar-Syrmia County at that time. Svetislav Mikerević, President of local Prosvjeta branch in Bobota, stated in an interview that ''"We are as well citizens of Croatia. We are indeed minority, but culture is not supposed to divide people. It is supposed to connect people, and what we have is culture with borders. It would be natural if we were invited..."''

References

External links

Official website of ''Vinkovačke jeseni'' in English
Recurring events established in 1966 Festivals in Croatia Vinkovci Folk festivals in Croatia Autumn in Croatia Festivals in Yugoslavia 1966 establishments in Croatia {{Croatia-stub