Vychodná Folk Festival

Thursday evening, we checked another item off our Slovakia "must-see" list.  Janka Kusa (one of our Slovak daughters) had first taken us to Haj, the hill overlooking Liptovsky Mikuláš, back in September, and we had returned in the fall for beautiful foliage photos.  But she told us it's beautiful at sunset, so we drove Grandma up there for the view.  

Olsons in beautiful Slovakia!  Up on the Haj hill (pronounced, coincidentally, "high"!!)

I kept snapping photos as the sun got lower on the horizon, and it was so magical seeing the changing colors on this hazy evening looking back over Liptovská Mara.  

Views from the Haj at sunset ---- check!!!   :-)

Friday morning we relaxed a little and re-packed for the weekend.  I drove Tim and his mom to Vychodná, dropped them off at Katarina's house, then brought the car back here.  (I'm not sure if I ever really explained about the cars, but we were extremely blessed by having vehicles available to use when Grandma Olson was here.  Pat'ka offered us her car while she was leading a school trip to England, and our pastor arranged for us to use his church car this past week while he was on a youth trip.  It really helped a lot for our travels!!)  Tim had ridden my bike over to the church and left it locked up there, so I was able to ride home in time to meet friends at the train station and ride with them to Vychodná.  

On the train, there were many others heading to the festival, including a group of about 10 young people (17-20 years old maybe?) who were singing and playing on 3 violins, all folk music of course.  It was so cool to see young people excited about their cultural heritage and music!!  Well, we talked a while, and they ended up handing me a violin, so I played an American fiddle tune for them.  Fun!   :-)  

Tim's mom meeting our Slovak family in Vychodná - Juraj, Jana, Katarina, and Juraj!!  They live in a beautiful new home that Juraj built, and we stayed in a nicely reconstructed house on the adjacent property which will be ready for Juraj whenever he gets married and wants to move in!!  ;-)  Katarina told us we were on an all-inclusive plan, and it was indeed that and more.  We were treated like royalty with meals, treats, snacks, drinks, festival tickets, rides back and forth, gifts.  They were all amazing hosts!!  :-)   But more than that, we had such incredible FUN together, mixing English and Slovak, laughing, teasing, and enjoying being "family".  Jana gave me a book of Slovak folk songs, so we even sat around singing them, with translations as we went.  Awesome!!  

Wooden carvings on the festival grounds, of Cyril and Methodius, two saints who helped establish Christianity in Slovakia and who standardized the alphabet and language.

Bill and Cathy Fredell were teachers at the Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava for three years, and we had made plans earlier in the year to meet them for the folk festival in Vychodná.  

Vychodná's folk festival is the largest and most famous in Slovakia, and it's been going for 59 years.  The costumes, pageantry, singing and dancing were awesome!

It was amazing seeing the enthusiasm for folk arts, with the amphitheater filled with thousands of people, not only from Slovakia, but also from all over Europe and the U.S.

Many of the performances told folk stories in song and dance.  The evening performances on the main stage went late into the night, and during the day they used a smaller stage and other venues as well.

On Saturday morning, Juraj drove us up to a reservoir way up on a mountaintop, which was built in the 70's and is still in use.  There is another reservoir 600 meters lower on the mountain, and electricity is produced by the water running from the upper to the lower reservoir.  

The ingenious concept is that water is pumped back to the upper reservoir every night when the price of electricity is much lower, so during the day, the electricity is produced for free, resulting in reduced energy costs!  

And the views from the top are glorious!!  :-)  

We had to stop at a nearby restaurant on the way home for some zmrzlina (ice cream) on a table on the porch.  :-)  

When we got back, Katarina's grandmother, Anna, came up from her house on the opposite end of the property to give Betty this beautiful piece of handwork that she had made - both the embroidery and the tatting around the edges!!  What an heirloom!!  

Katarina in the kitchen with her Slovak and American dads!   She was quite the organizer and arranger for the whole weekend - everything was absolutely perfect!! 

Juraj has been taking lessons on the hunting horn, so he gave us a performance!   I even got to try it and played a reasonable rendition of taps.   :-)  

Our American friends looking very patriotic as they met us to watch the parade on Saturday afternoon.  Katarina had arranged for them to stay at her great-aunt's house for the weekend, so none of us had to commute back to L.M. during the festival.  

Gathering to watch the festival parade.  (The hat in the background is a traditional one that many people were wearing, but I couldn't convince Tim I should buy him one!)  

The Slovak flag and the performers from Vychodná led off the parade, which consisted entirely of the folk groups walking up the street - AND performing along the way!!   :-)

Every group had instrumentalists, mostly violins, and accordion, and a bass.  It was great seeing the "marching bass" being carried along with groups.  

There were so many groups in the parade, and we loved hearing them sing and watching the folk dances!!  

There were many vendors at the festival selling (and making) folk craft goods.  This woman was working on her loom.  

The facilities and technology on the main stage in the amphitheater were fabulous, with an excellent sound and light system as well as big screens projecting the action on stage.  On Saturday night, the president of Slovakia was there - Ivan Gašparovič.  

Sunday morning we walked to church in the village square.  This decorated tree is one of many lining the main street of the village, adding to the festive atmosphere!

After church, one of the storks was back on the steeple!   :-)

Windows all over the village displayed handwork and costumes, as part of a contest for decorations during the festival.  

A re-enactment of a photo from 22 years ago of Katarina and Juraj all dressed in traditional costumes for the festival!  Katarina used to dance when she was little!  

After church, we had another delicious meal prepared by Jana - a perfect Slovak Sunday dinner!  They invited Bill and Cathy to join the family, so it was a big and very appreciative group.  Katarina and Michael gave us a ride back to Liptovsky Mikuláš, so we stopped for some ice cream on a hot summer afternoon in our town square.  

We stopped at the school for a quick photo op on the way back to our flat.  Tim, his mom and I spent the evening re-packing again, and of course I did some laundry as well - HA!  

I'm sure Luba, our landlady, knew we were back because of all the laundry flying out on the line.   She came up bringing gifts to Grandma from the U.S.A., and she actually spoke some English to us for the first time!!  Her daughter Lenka probably coached her, and she did an awesome job!!  She's such a sweetie!!  

And we're finally up to date --- it's Monday, and we are back in Vienna after a couple of train and subway rides.  Tomorrow Grandma will fly home, and Beth will fly here later in the day to begin our next adventure!!