Grobnički dondolaši - Bell-Carriers From Grobnik
Grobnički dondolaši - Bell-Carriers From Grobnik
Machuga is a stylized weapon used today only symbolically. It doesn't have a standardized look. Every individual bell-carrier has his own personalized one.
Grobnik is a village now. There is a castle ruin from which you can see far away in every direction but most importantly over the vast field in the East called Grobničko polje. The castle was owned by the Croatian nobleman family Frankopan in the past, until Austrian rulers Habsburg killed them & took over their properties.
Dondolaši at their peak moment - performing "zvončarsko kolo"
There are 2 legends about the Grobničko polje about the battles with Mongolians & Turks. Most probably many more battles took place there in the past. The legend with Mongolians says that on this field was a clash with Croatian army & Mongolians were defeated & after that slowly returning back to Asia & never recovered & came back again. Hungarian king Bela IV. was also Croatian king at the time. He was running away all the way from Hungary in front of the Mongolian army towards the Adriatic sea & saved himself hiding on the island Cres, in a small village Beli & was protected by the loyal Croatian & probably Hungarian armies.
A couple of centuries later came the Turks with the plan to conquer whole Europe. In that time Croatia was a part of Austrian Empire & Habsburg family created a military zone to protect themselves from the Turks. So, almost whole Croatian territory was a military zone. The Turks were so powerful & almost none of the European armies could resist their attacks so the locals Croatian invented these very ugly, fearsome masks-uniforms to look like demons to scare off the more numerous Turkish army. It worked well cause in those times people believed in the existence of many different entities were mostly afraid of the unknown & different.
Here are some more photos of these guys in the parade:
The hand in the red suit with is a hand of a commander-chief & he has the obligation & the right to push & order the soldier-beasts during the walkabout
Rarely I could catch their face expressions & this guy's uniform was a bit different than of the others.
When they finish their duty, they take off their head masks for a break to rest & to eat & drink cause after these long walkabouts & parades under the heavy equipment & jumping around clashing their bells on their asses between each other, they need to have some drink & food to be able to continue.
Red hair people are rare in Croatia but not impossible to encounter. Some of them even take of the head masks during the walkabout or parade if they feel too hot under or the lack of fresh air. This guy is another example how the tattoo culture infiltrated into the tradition of these guys. The old customs do not mention tattoos. But I like how well the old archaic traditions & the new fashion interact here in this example. Tattoos are also old tradition but not of Croatian bell-carriers.
I was trying to take a good shot of these guys without head masks & did this spontaneous one.
Somebody else was probably shooting them too & they like to pose to be remembered in the photos for the next generations.
Younger members - it is a good sign for the future - that hopefully this tradition will be practiced more.
I almost posted all I got from this year's bell-carriers parade. After this post there is only 1 group left to present. Below you can take a look on previous posts & read about Croatian carnival tradition:
- 1st post: https://steemit.com/hive-109435/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-bell-carriers-from-bregi
- 2nd post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-vukojevci-and-sovinjak
- 3rd post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/portrait-photography-and-art-contest-week-121-rainbow-hair-man
- 4th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-frlanija
- 5th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-zejane
- 6th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-cicarija
- 7th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-zamet
- 8th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/portrait-photography-and-art-contest-week-126-light-in-the-dark
- 9th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-kukuljanovo
- 10th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-veli-brgud
- 11th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/traditional-croatian-carnival-masks-from-vlahov-breg-and-korensko
- 12th post: https://steemit.com/hive-185836/@careassaktart/portrait-photography-and-art-contest-week-136-injection
All the upper shots I made with Nikon D800 & Sigma 105 mm 1:2.8 DG Macro HSM lens & for the self-portrait below I used the same camera but different lens - Nikon AF Nikkor 35-70 mm.
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