Orešanský Rínek: a fall celebration

A while back a town nearby, Horné Orešany, had a “rinek”, which involved music, dancing, and lots of food.

There are a number of different types of celebrations in the fall, for example, vinobranie celebrates wine. While considerably bigger, the Trnava jarmok is similar to the rinek. Friends tell me that ‘rinek’ and ‘jarmok’ are mostly just dialect differences. Rinek comes from ‘ring-kruh’, both German and Slovak for circle, because tables were placed in a circle as they sold their wares, while jarmok comes from ‘jahr markt’, yearly market in German.

This year’s rinek had a wedding theme. The entertainment consisted of a play in which the music and dance acts were incorporated. Above, a woman throws her hands up as a friend relates how useless her husband is in preparing for the wedding (if I recall correctly). 

The groom is hoisted up and presented with other girls. When he declares after each that she is not his bride, he is ‘beaten’ with sticks. (The lighting was fairly dark, so I’m afraid the photos are rather grainy.)

Below, friends dress the bride, while one girl sings a haunting song. You’ll have to excuse my poor video making skills, but the music really is beautiful.

The bride and groom united at last, at the head table. I’m pretty sure real alcohol flowed at the table.

The bride is learning the ‘cimbal’, the Slovak cimbalom, a type of hammered dulcimer. I wonder how heavy the headpiece is.

I particularly enjoyed one dance group from Piešťany, Slnečnica. Here, the young men are dressed in shepherd costume. Their jackets are slung on with a leather strap. You can imagine them saying, “Yeah? Show me what you’ve got.”

Floor slapping is a common move in men’s dances, although I’m not quite sure why. And men wearing cropped shirts is a little different.

All Slovak women’s traditional outfits, called kroj (kroy), have big full skirts so that the skirt flares out when twirling. Ever seen a little girl twirling around showing you how much her skirt can puff up? But very whirly skirts also expose a fair amount of leg, so a mini skirt slip is worn underneath. And, I’m not sure my memory serves me correctly, but I think someone told me that it was because, long long ago, there was no such thing as underwear. But I could be mistaken on that.

The group had a number of dress changes. This dance involved creating rhythms with the wooden spoons, including tapping them on the tin cup around their waist. Look at the beautiful (time consuming) embroidery on the bonnet/hats.

 The crowd singing and clapping along. 

Above, a gypsy mama charges the groom of having a baby with her daughter.

 The band accompanying the gypsies. 

A way to put your hair up before bobby pins – incorporate a string in with the braid and tie it around your head, covering the string with a ribbon or headpiece.

 Detail from a man’s sleeve. 

After the show, they served food that would be common at a wedding and there was more live music with everybody dancing. My children didn’t want to leave, and fun was had by all.

(Below are more photos, without commentary)