In recent decades, Slovakia has taken a renewed interest in the traditions of the past. The image that comes to mind is of shepherds dwelling in quaint, wooden cabins in picturesque mountains. Of course, this is a simplified version of our history, but the essence of these perceptions focuses on a rural idyll somewhere in the hills.
This pleasant image of rural life overshadows others which were part of our past as well. People also lived in cities and towns, laboured in mines, tilled the land, cultivated vineyards and worked in various trades.
However, there is some truth to the idealised rural image. There was a specific group of people who lived that image: Vlachs. Also called Wallachian shepherders, those who lived in scattered mountain hamlets arrived in Slovakia from southeast Europe due to pressure from the Tartars and the Ottomans.
Vlachs, as serfs, had to consign bryndza, forest game, leather products and homemade cloth to the landowners, and also had to log. Their idyllic, rural life was actually quite demanding.
This settlement in the vicinity of Detva, pictured in this postcard from 1919, looks just like a description in encyclopaedias. A Vlachian courtyard was formed by several log cabins, sometimes covered with shingles, but usually with a heavy thatched roof. From the left, a white-limed house stands with a barn in the back and a granary on the right.
