A TRADITIONAL folklore festival called Palóc Easter attracted 1,200 visitors to its sixth manifestation at Fiľakovo Castle in southern Slovakia. Here, visitors were able to learn how to use various methods to decorate eggs, make leather bracelets, enamel jewellery, mint coins or bake traditional millers’ cakes or honey cakes. Young boys and girls competed for either the title of ‘Most Skilled Lad’ or ‘Most Skilled Blossom’ of the festival. Palócs are an ethnic group in this region and some of their ancestors’ traditions and skills have been preserved to this day.
Franciscan monks consecrated Easter meals at the festival, as is also the tradition in other locales in Slovakia. Two folklore troops, Búzavirág from Rožňava and Ilosai from Veľká Ida, performed along with Gergely Agócs and the Fonó Zenekar band from Budapest. Éva Korpás and her group presented music for children. Visitors could view an ethnographic exhibition called Folk Art of the Novohrad Region in the Bebék bastion of the castle. The head of the castle’s museum, Attila Agócs, told the TASR newswire that the festival aims to hand over old folklore traditions to young Palócs. The principal organiser was the Pro Gaudio company.
9. May 2011 at 0:00 | Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská
