Prekmurje, Slovenia – tradition remains

We have entered the autumn days - the harvest is already behind us, but now it is time to enjoy the fruits of our labor, actually, I'm not going to lie, I didn't help much, so all credit goes to my parents. What fruits am I talking about? Grapes, or actually about what is made from grapes - wine.

Our vineyard is located in Lendava. This is a town that lies under the slopes of the picturesque Lendavske gorice ( hills with a plantations of grapevines). It is the easternmost city in Slovenia, located right next to the border with Hungary, that's why they have two official languages, slovenian and hungarian.

The tradition of wine culture and cuisine, the colors of the vineyards, authentic experiences in nature, the old town, the castle, the wine-tourist roads, there is really a lot to see. Have you ever seen four countries at once? No? Then you need to visit the Vinarium Lendava observation tower, 53.5 m high, it offers you a beautiful 360° view of the colorful landscape, which stretches from the Lendava hills, where the tower is located, all the way to the Mura basin, and captures a beautiful view of the plains and hills of Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Austria. The highest viewing platform of the tower can be reached by elevator or by climbing 240 steps. It is just amazing to see this. Oh, and there's also the zipline. And if you've never experienced a harvest, the locals offer you a special experience in autumn, when the winegrowers organize harvests, and you can participate by picking, carrying and pressing grapes. You can really experience a lot in this place. And if you walk along the wine routes, the locals will offer you wine, so be prepared. 🙂

In my family, tradition means a lot, not only because of the celebration but because at least on these holidays the whole family gathers and celebrates together. However, since we are already a very extended family and most of us live in other countries, it is very difficult to gather all the members together. I've mentioned many times that I'm not a religious person, but in memory of my grandmother, it's still nice to celebrate because it brings back nice memories of her. One of the traditions that have been preserved is Martinovanje or Martin's Day on November 11th. During this event, the whole family always gathered in our vineyard, with a huge feast, which is traditional for this day - goose, red cabbage, and “mlinci”. I tried to find an English word for this dish (mlinci), but I couldn't, so I'll try to explain what this is, and maybe you know how this dish is named in your country.

Mlinci are unleavened bread. The basis is flour, water, and salt. Knead a smooth shiny dough from these ingredients, then divide the dough, roll it out and bake it: traditionally in a bread oven, more modernly on a clean plate of an electric stove, and easiest in the oven. Break the baked dough into pieces and cook them in boiling water for about 2 minutes. And voila, your side dish is ready. This is the our way of preparation, there are a million other ways, but for me this is the best.

Last year I already described the legend of St. Martin (you can find it among my previous posts), but now I would like to add one more legend that originates from pagan times, although at that time it was celebrated a little differently, and its meaning was also a little different. At that time, our pagan ancestors dedicated the holiday mainly to thank the gods for a good harvest by sacrificing poultry, but also to requests for a repeat of this kind of abundance in the coming year. Many legends and customs are connected to this day, among other things they predicted how harsh the winter would be by studying the color of the bones of the martin goose, and the prediction of the upcoming harvest belonged to an apple. This was placed on a barrel, if the apple dried nicely, it indicated a good harvest.

Yes, there are a lot of legends and over time the legends are forgotten, but the tradition remains.

This year almost the whole family got together, and this day was especially special, because after four years I finally saw my cousin and met her baby. She and her husband are living in the USA for about 7 years now, and both are working in a music industry. He is a musician and producer, and she made a master's degree as music manager. In America, the music industry is very widespread, so they decided to move there and do what makes them happy the most. You don't have many options to do something with music in Europe, but in America everything is possible. Six months ago, a beautiful daughter was born to them, and New York became their home. It is not easy to have a child in such a big city, to work and study at the same time. They are truly amazing and kudos to them for having the courage to leave everything behind and follow your dreams. Unfortunately, due to all the restrictions that have occurred in recent years, traveling home has been very difficult, actually almost impossible, so we haven't seen each other in almost four years. I really missed her, so they made me very happy when they announced that they were coming to Slovenia. Unfortunately, due to a lot of work and health problems, we saw each other only for a day, and because of such a large family, it was difficult to talk. I haven't seen many members of the family in a while so we talked over each other and wanted to talk about everything that happened in the last few months. I'm really grateful that we still get along so well and that we're all still so exuberant even though we're not so young anymore.

After a good lunch, we went to the wine cellar where the wine was blessed. This is what our grandmother always did and my aunt wants to keep this tradition, so she took over the role and blessed the wine. Once this is done, everyone gets a glass of wine to taste and comment on this year's wine. Even if the wine is not delicious, it is necessary to give a good compliment, otherwise father and uncle will be very disappointed, or they will simply say that no one is getting wine this year. So, no bad comments please 😂

Then the fun begins. Dancing, singing and drinking. They have new wine and it's really fun to watch our parents dance, sing and have fun. It's hard to watch without laughing. Of course, the excuse for drinking so much is that it is necessary to try the wine and if it causes a headache the next day, so that they will know for the next time how much they can drink, without having hungover next day. Yes, this is their excuse for being drunk on this day. 😂

Cherish all the moments with your family, the good and the bad, the memories will remain forever, and this is something that will always keep us together.

“To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.” - Barbara Bush

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With love, @tinabrezpike ❤️