Friday, 19 November 2016 was the day for which the Slovenians of Banja Luka were preparing for several months.
Slovenians living outside homeland did not forget their mother tongue, their culture, their customs, the old ones that their parents or grandparents had told them about. We have celebrated that day for eighteen years, together with our friends. Friendship was born through joint work, many projects, implemented over years, networking and exchanging our pupils and students with those from Slovenian schools, cultural institutions, relatives from Slovenia, Slovenian associations active in BiH, associations from other countries, associations of national minorities active in Banja Luka and that is what we are proud of.
Just as previous years, we celebrated baptising wine in restaurant Valentin. We had a lot of guests: representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in BiH, deputy ambassador Aljaž Zupan, consul in Banja Luka, Marjan Ristič, advisor Marjan Cukrov from the Office of the Government of the Republic of Slovenia for Slovenians Abroad, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Srpska, Minister of Science and Technology Jasmin Komić and representatives of Banja Luka city administration. There were also representatives of Slovenian Emigrant Association, Institute for Slovenian Emigrants, Association for the Development of Voluntary Work Novo mesto, Grammar School Ledina from Ljubljana, library A.T. LINHART from Radovljica, Cultural Centre Banski dvor Banjaluka, representatives of national minorities, representatives of Slovenian associations in BiH, Serbian association from Slovenia and other cultural associations as well as members of our Association.
Many were invited, many guests were there, excellent moderator Tilen Turk, humour of St. Martin performed by Janez Čatež, performance by children folklore group, song by our choir Davorin Jenko, hospitality by staff of restaurant Valentin and never tired musicians from Novo mesto made our celebration of St. Martin jolly and proper to mark Slovenian custom, baptising young wine.
Celebration of St. Martin was successful, although it was not only due to members of the Association but also many sponsors to whom we owe special gratitude.
Nataša Kajmaković
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zohWgIZWPcQ
