1st LegendFest at Roški waterfall has ended

LegendFest announcement day, which has taken place in Šibenik on Friday, the 8th of July, was organized by the Association Val kulture (Wave of culture) from Zagreb, Tourist Board of Šibenik and the Public Institution “National Park Krka”, with the additional support of the Embassy of Israel in Croatia, the company RP Global and the Tourist Board of the Šibenik-Knin County.

Lectures by renowned ethnologist about fairies and legends of Šibenik region were conducted at the City Library “Juraj Šižgorić”, Šibenik. In the centre of the old town of Šibenik, visitors were invited to the fun and excitement of the LegendFest by Šibenik dance theatre “Shadows” and with the beautiful sounds of the folk music performed by ensemble “Yamma” from Israel.

First LegendFest of the Šibenik-Knin County held at Roški waterfall in pristine nature embedded with beautiful river Krka, was organized by the Association Val kulture from Zagreb and the Public Institution “National Park Krka”.

Through interactive art and music workshops, storytelling, performances, exhibitions, lectures, dance performances and concerts, we invoked the memory of some ancient times in which fairies loved to socialize with people. Today, the stories of such times are carried forward only by the local storytellers who will gladly tell us their memories of encounters with the fairies. It is precisely this narrating of Šibenik legends that was recorded by Marija Krnčević Rak and her associate Željko Krnčević in their ethno film, helping to save these stories from oblivion.

In the fairy-tale locations of Roški waterfall, Oziđana cave and old mills, visitors of LegendFest had a unique opportunity to experience the wealth of tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Šibenik-Knin County. Along the noisy murmur of the river Krka visitors could also hear the lovely sounds of bagpipes – the sound that has always been associated with fairies and the tradition which is now being carried on by musician Stjepan Večković. Almost behind every tree there was a beautiful fairy and visitors could attest to what the famous Ivan Kukuljević wrote of them as far back as 1851.

We would like to use this opportunity to thank all the artists, musicians, dancers and storytellers who entertained us with their interesting programmes that transposed us into magical Fairy world of Krka, as well as all the visitors who at the LegendFest could become fairies and elves themselves if they so desired. And last but not least, many thanks to all who helped greatly in the organization and contributed to the success of the first LegendFest in Šibenik-Knin County.

You can get a glimpse of the festival atmosphere in the photo gallery. A video footage of the festival made by Croatian Radiotelevison can be found here.

See you again next year!