Hello and welcome to this edition of our Blog, from Čardačani, in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina, written by an immigrant (me), as I am neither a tourist or a citizen here.
Life is busy at the moment. Which in many respects is not bad. We have this week experienced the "mother of all storms". Honestly, in all my life I have never witnessed one as strong, loud and almost terrifyingly electric.
The reverberation of the thunder claps set off car alarms. Our family of cats and dogs were noticeably affected. The sudden drop in temperature from mid 30’s to low 20’s in just a few minutes causes weather chaos here.
We heard the storm “rumbling” our way from the direction of the Vrbas valley. It was loud, but when it passed us, well it was something else. Another piece of life rich tapestry.
In this weeks post we show you three events that we have attended in Banja Luka, and introduce you to a very rare piece of Bosnian history, which we hope you will find interesting.
Play Media Day 07
A LEADING Banja Luka based Regional Digital Conference .
A very informative and inspiring 7 hours at PlayMediaDay 07 in Banja Luka this past weekend. An extremely diverse programme with a varied range of experienced speakers.
You're never too old to learn, and that was very much the case with me.
PlayMediaDays are an integral part of the media calendar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It happens again in 2023, so my top tip is to book your ticket as early as you can.
Did you attend this year's event?
If so, what was your main takeaway?
Game of Drones
I might have got this monumentally wrong, but this past weekend has seen the first international FPV drone event hosted in Banja Luka. For those who don't know too much about drones, FPV stands for First Person View.
This event has seen competitors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czechia, Hungary and Serbia. The event organisers were RC Dron Serbija, who are the number one drone racing club in Serbia.
Our short video above, gives a feel for the event. The drones fly so fast (their pilots are extremely talented), that it was difficult to film them.
More info from the event.
First-person view (FPV) flight is one of the most exciting, immersive ways to fly a drone, which has been soaring in popularity across the drone industry.
This latest form of drone technology has opened up the possibilities in a variety of fields like FPV drone flying, drone racing, search and rescue missions, and agriculture applications.
In the current climate, FPV technology isn’t just limited to self-built custom drones; ready-to-fly drones can be combined with FPV goggles, headsets, smartphone devices, and other displays to offer an exhilarating flying experience.
Have you flown a Drone? What’s your experience been like?
Kastrum Fest 2022
We have experienced our first visit to the annual Kastrum Festival.
This Band Luka Festival is now in its fifth year.
”Kastrum” is an international Knights Festival, held at the Kastel Fortress near the River Vrbas. The organiser of the Knights Festival is the Sovereign Military Knights Order "Guardians of the Spear of St. George".
This particular reenactment event, puts Banja Luka on the map of Knights Tournaments both across the region, and the world. The event revives past times of knights, their ladies, their armour and weapons. The lost age of Chivalry in fact.
Kastrum 2022 gives new generations the opportunity to learn, first-hand, how people once lived, fought and loved. The Festival program this year was focussed on the Stone House inside the walls of the iconic Kastel which hosted a special exhibition called "Cyrillic is My Alphabet", featuring an exact copy of Miroslav's Gospel,
a medieval sword retrieved from the river Vrbas,
and the period costumes worn during the filming of the TV series about the Nemanjić dynasty called “Nemanjići - Birth of a Kingdom”.
The first day of the festival begins with a traditional gathering in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, where the wedding of King Stefan Dragutin and Hungarian Princess Catalina Arpad takes place.
This is followed by a ceremonial parade of event participants from the Church to the Kastel Fortress.
This is a must see event if you are in the area. Talking to one of the organisers, it’s possible that for Kastrum 2023, that there might be UK Knights attending.
Follow the blog for any developments there 😀
Traditional Bosnian Tattoos, known as “Sicanje”
A few years ago, I came across the tattooing of women in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Another extremely unusual but important piece of the rich history that this wonderful country has.
I thought I would share some information regarding this and would like to thank Mandala Academy for inspiring this post.
Some historians state that the custom of tattooing among women in the Balkans dates back to the Illyrian period, and was especially "popular" during the Ottoman occupation of medieval Bosnia.
Catholic women in Central Bosnia, and some men, would decorate their bodies with various Catholic symbols so that they would never forget their Catholic origins.
During the Ottoman occupation, Catholics tattooed their children in order to save them from devshirme, while women were tattooed in hopes of avoiding enslavement.
The decorations would be applied during one day of Holy Week and the younger member of the family would do it (or, if they refused - then the oldest member would do it).
The pattern / pattern would first be drawn with the blunt side of a needle soaked in ink, and only then the #tattoo itself would be drawn, and then the hand would be covered with wax or tissue paper.
Gunpowder was also used, often diluted with sage. 🌿 These drawings, which could hardly be removed, remained on the bodies, becoming permanent evidence.
There has been something of a renaissance as far as those traditional tattoos are concerned.
Designs from back in time are now, it seems, back in fashion.
And Finally
If you would like to come and visit the beautiful country we live in and experience just some of what we experience, then please check out this small website we have launched promoting our apartment rental.
It’s a great place to base yourself at.
Thanks for reading this post. We hope it provides some value to you 😀👍
Tamara and I also offer a Slow Tourism planning consultancy for your visit as well.
Thanks for reading this post. We hope it provides some value to you 😀👍
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