Living traditions and the Slovenian year
Slovenia, situated in the heart of Europe, creates in harmony with all seasons of the year. Nature has always inspired people’s habits with its metamorphoses from spring to winter.
Among the most exciting folk customs is the calling of spring with Kurenti, Shrovetide masks that, dressed in sheepskin and equipped with horns, chase away the winter with loud cowbells. The door-to-door rounds of Kurenti are part of the UNESCO List of Intangible Heritage, and the annual Shrovetide carnival, Kurentovanje celebrations in Ptuj, is considered one of the most excitingcarnivals in the world according to Lonely Planet. Slovenia has a number of unusual carnivals that are worth visiting.

After Kurenti comes Green George, the hero of Bela Krajina, who welcomes the arrival of spring on 23 April. At the time of the jurjevanje celebrations in Bela krajina, boys leave small birch branches in houses, while Green George is dressed in the birch leaves, which are abundant in Bela Krajina’s forests. On 30 April, bonfires made of piles of dried tree branches are lit all across Slovenia. People celebrate spring and International Workers’ Day until the early morning. OnMidsummer’s night, nature opens its doors, fireflies are flying, and when fern seeds fall into people’s shoes, they gain the power of understanding the language of animals.
Summer is the time of outdoor festivals and events celebrating good music ranging from jazz and classical music in Ljubljana to metal and reggae in the valley of the Soča River. After the musical holidays comes the time for the grape harvest and autumn celebrations to honour the new wine for St Martin's Day.
If summer is the time of the Goldenhorn, the legendary animal that protects the kingdom of the Julian Alps and Mt Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia, then winter is the time of King Matjaž, the kind mythological ruler who sleeps in a cave under Mt Peca in the Karavanke Alps, where he sought shelter from persecution. When his beard has twisted around the table nine times, he will awaken. Until then we can visit him in the cave near the Dom na Peci mountain hut and compete in building snow and ice castles for King Matjaž every January in Črna na Koroškem.