Visitors to Čičmany learn how to crack the whip

The whip can also used as a musical instrument.

(Source: Erika Ďurčová, TASR)

The sound of the whip was again heard in Čičmany during the masterclass prepared by folk artist Martin Brxa from Turany, allowing those interested in learning how to crack the whip, to have a go.

“I try to show the mastery and heritage of the whip to today’s people so this technique is not forgotten,” explained Brxa, as quoted by the TASR newswire. He wants to let people know that a tool like this existed and that nowadays it can be used as sports equipment not just as decoration.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

The shepherd’s whip was originally used for signalling, but it was also used as a musical instrument to accompany singing.

SkryťTurn off ads

“It was used as a means of communication between shepherd’s huts, but often also to organise, punish or control,” he said, as cited by TASR. Today, people use whip to let off steam and excess energy and to put themselves in a good mood.

This was the tenth time Brxa has organized his masterclass in cracking the whip. He first started when his friends asked him to teach them. Participants in the class learn the basic technique of whip cracking. It is spun above the head in such a way that when it stops, it turns counter clockwise and creates a wave in the air resulting in the cracking noise.

Top stories

News digest: Don't forget- clocks go forward on Sunday

More money from Brussels, US helicopters for Slovakia, and Bratislava airport's warning against fake websites.


13 h
Filip Toška holding chard in the hydroponic Hausnatura farm.

How a Mayan doomsday prophecy took a Slovak to hi-tech agriculture

Hydroponic farm run out of former telephone exchange.


9. mar
A Lutheran priest outside the Lutheran High School in Tisovec in 2007.

US teachers not rushing to teach English in Slovakia due to war

Dozens of Americans taught Slovak students in Tisovec in the past, but the local school is now struggling to find teachers from overseas.


21. mar
PM Eduard Heger announces his new political party, Demokrati, on March 7, 2023.

With his new party, Slovak PM embarks on a mission to unify

After two years as premier of an OĽaNO-led government, Eduard Heger is leaving the populist movement of Igor Matovič and hopes to establish a new political culture in Slovakia.


20. mar
SkryťClose ad