Homeland Sentiments

Ethnographic portrait of Ludbreg Podravina: detailed scenes from St. George and surrounding villages, fair life, health practices and micro-history—documented through Kajkavian speech and local tradition from the banks of the Drava and Plitvica.

About the Book

Homeland Sentiments presents a systematic overview of village life in the Ludbreg region. Belović documents people, scenes and customs from childhood—combining ethnographic descriptions with local beliefs and Kajkavian expressions. The beginning of the book evokes the square in St. George, the sounds of cowbells and dondolondoš, and children’s “christenings” with improvised vessels when Plitvica turns the square into a lake. The continuation brings a detailed mosaic of ethnography, micro-history and warm observations about the “small” people who carry the village.

The book is organized into thematic units:

• Memorial vignettes and customs: from Sunday processions to evening bells and first loves (“At the springs of life”).
• People and natural environment: Drava, pastures, shepherds and watermills—and their disappearance under hydroelectric reservoirs; mill migrations described as collective adventure.
• Health, folk medicine and “barbiring”: leeches and horns, herbalist Ivan Carević, village dentist, midwives and home remedies.
• Trade and crafts: Ludbreg fair, potters from Zagorje, rooster breeders from Bartolovec, bosonci galantari, sieve makers from Suha Krajina, tinkers.
• Micro-history and lexicon: overview of older mentions of villages and their names (table on p. 24–25), list of St. George households from 1940 (p. 27–30), rich catalog of nicknames (p. 31–32) and charming table “Betegi i falinge” (p. 33) with folk terminology for diseases and defects.

You’ll Discover…

• Shepherds in pastures and sounds that guide the herd: swinging cinkoši and dondolondoši, traders who transport meljava, and how the whole crowd rises with “hooruk” to move a watermill to a new current.
• Village medicine without pathos: “barbiring” with horns and leeches, herbalist who mixes teas, improvised dental anesthesia with rakija and strict (sometimes harsh) school and church authorities.
• Fair nightmare in Ludbreg: praising livestock, “komišeranje” of shepherds, aldomaše under tents and endless humor that sparks between negotiators.
• Children’s world without currency, but with inventions: rolling, bikekovanje, “first boats” from planks and willow bark, splashing in mud and great summer swims in the Drava.
• Nicknames that are more accurate than birth certificates: from Bzikovi and Krojnčevi to the entire sound lexicon that carries village memory.

Perfect For

Ethnologists, dialectologists, genealogists and all those interested in Central European village life of the 1900s—especially those seeking documentation of local traditions, health practices and trade customs in the Kajkavian region.