Potatoes! Today in Sencur there was a celebration of Maria Thesesa and potatoes. She was the Archduchess in Austria in the 1700's and sort-of forced the Slovenians to begin growing potatoes. It ended up being a good source of food for Slovenians and even for their animals. Many people say it saved the people from starvation during those days.Today's celebration included a parade of historical potato farming equipment, traditional Slovene folk music, as well as traditional arts and handmade crafts, and lots and lots of potatoes! Specifically, one of Slovenia's main dishes, "prazen krompir". They're potatoes that are boiled, then sauteed with onions and are very tasty! If you've ever had lunch in Slovenia, most likely you've tasted this delicious recipe! There was also a dedication of a monument across the street, a relief statue of Maria Theresa holding a potato!
Our friend, Lojska, came from a family of potato farmers. She called the other day to ask if she could come see the festivities from our house. I really enjoyed standing next to her during the parade and hearing her relive old family memories of the different equipment.
It was a fun day to be in the center of the village today, walk out the front door and into an air filled with good music and great smelling food as well as people just out enjoying themselves!
3 comments:
Wow! What a cultural experience! and how did you get out of your driveway?
I'm all in for a town potato festival - esp fried with onions. What a great holiday. I can add this one to my list of holidays we should celebrate! Yeah potatos!
Andrea Pitcher
What a great location for you. It looks like they used your driveway to set up. I hope you knew about the festival and didn't plan on going anywhere. Bike races, horses, potato festivals you couldn't have picked a better location to show Jesus to the Slovenes.
Love Dad
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