He finished and 542. Lastovo Carnival, the most impressive Mediterranean carnival event, which this year stretched over six long weeks. From St. Anthony's Day on January 17, when the ball (dances) begin in Sala, until Shrove Tuesday, Lastovo lives with and for Shrove, and this year it was more massive, richer and more joyful than at least a decade ago.
The only way to preserve the autochthonous nature of a custom and an environment is to actively develop and live it, and in this an island micro-community of about seven hundred people, with the support of a persistent diaspora that still organizes its own version of Poklad in Australia today, functions flawlessly despite all the challenges of the 21st century.
The rigid rules are bent just enough so that the Poklad retains elements of surprise and playfulness, but not so much that the folk performance in which practically all the people of Lastovo participate becomes a mere display of medieval tradition. The magic is created precisely because The islanders prepare and carry out the Feast for themselves, and if you are lucky enough to experience it as a guest, you will be able to peer into the very hearts of your hosts.
Complex rituals built over centuries they already have their own little guards because even kindergarten children in Lastovo know an extraordinary amount about the island's key tradition, and the island also has the youngest sanatur – a player of the lyre, an instrument that accompanies the entire celebration of Kandalora on February 2nd – in eight-year-old Matej Čengija.
Successors are also being prepared for those who make sabers, bombs, who wear uzuz and sew Poklad's robes, stories and legends are passed down, and new ones are created every year. A huge job in documenting them was done by the ethnography "Uvoooo! Eviva nam kumpaniya, poša nam alavija!".
Last year, an exhibition of photographs by Marko Lorenz Blaslov was created, an interpretive documentary was made, which you can watch along with a folklore performance on the island in the summer, but all of these materials provide a limited experience of something that needs to be felt with all the senses.
The last few days, from Fat Thursday to the masquerade ball on Saturday, Little masquerades on Sunday and Rough on Fat Monday to the all-day finale on Tuesday, were accompanied by more guests than before. Since it is expected that their number will grow in the coming years, it has been organized since last year Carnival tour, to become familiar with a custom that is much more enjoyable to follow knowing the legend and procedures.
Because not only the people of Lastov need exceptional fitness and coordination to celebrate for weeks, in addition to the last five days when it's almost day and night, the guests also need to "do everything well", especially if they are on the island for the first time, which is visual sensation and no events.
///Explore the unearthly beauty of the Lastovo archipelago
On Ash Wednesday, Lastovo was quiet, many temporarily lost their voices in this celebration, in the afternoon, people pay their Sala and eat eggs collected on Fat Monday. Until the next Poklad, this one, as well as parts of the previous 541, will be retold, so that it will be even better.
///Lastovo – the island of crystal stars
