It was jolly on Saturday, 17 November 2012 in the "Valentin" hall in Banja Luka.
Our Association has observed old Slovenian custom of marking St. Martin's Day for fourteen years. There is almost not a single man in Banja Luka and wider who has not heard about the custom of christening musk into wine and therefore it was not strange to see over 300 guests in Valentin.
We were joined by our fellow countrymen from the Banja Luka region, members of Slovenian associations from Sarajevo and Niš, representatives from the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in BiH, Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenians Abroad, Slovenian Emigrant's Society, representatives of the Government of the Republic of Srpska in BiH, representatives of the city administration Banja Luka, guests from the Society for the Development of Volunteer Work Novo mesto, our friends from other ethnicities and our sponsors who again ensured that our celebration succeed.
The attendees were greeted by state secretary Matjaž Longar, on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia and vice prime minister of the Republic of Srpska Nada Tešanović.
Elder members did their best to prepare the event and our young members, pupils of the Supply Teaching Lessons of Slovenian, together with their teacher Barbara, made sure that their performance be the introduction to the celebration. Everything happened according to the plan, apart from the fact that the musk went down the throat with some difficulties, however not for long. St. Martin from Novo mesto together with the godfathers christened the musk and we all, with full glasses and accompanied by a song, sang by choir „Davorin Jenko“, made the toast to the birth of young wine.
Nataša Kajmaković
