ZAGREB, March 31, 2018 – The Croatian Culture Ministry has submitted the celebration of Saint Tryphon and the Kolo Svetog Tripuna tradition of Croats from the Bay of Kotor for inclusion on UNESCO’s protection list, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Friday, adding that they were registered as Croatia’s cultural heritage and were part of Croatia’s intangible heritage.
The cult of St. Tryphon and the celebrations in his honour are tied to the tradition of the Croatian fraternity Bokeljska Mornarica for whose creation and preservation most of the credit goes to the Croatian people, the press release said.
The tradition promotes the heritage of Croats from the Bay of Kotor aka Boka, notably their maritime tradition.
The Montenegrin government on Thursday adopted a nomination file for entering Bokeljska Mornarnica on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, saying in a press release that Bokeljska Mornarica was an intangible cultural heritage of Montenegro, cultivating 12 centuries of Boka’s tradition.
The Croatian Foreign Ministry said the recognition of the cultural and historical heritage, including the contribution of Boka Croats to the creation and preservation of Bokeljska Mornarica, held an important place in the exercise of the rights of Croats in Montenegro as an ethnic minority recognised by the Montenegrin Constitution.
The Croatian foreign and culture ministries welcomed the contribution of associations of Montenegro Croats to the preparation of Montenegro’s submission of Bokeljska Mornarica for inclusion on UNESCO’s list.
Taking into consideration the views and requests of Boka Croats, “we have done everything to protect their rights and ensure the protection of Bokeljska Mornarica in all of its elements, both those it cultivates in Montenegro and those it cultivates in Croatia,” the Croatian Foreign Ministry said.
Croatia advocates an approach which best evaluates the comprehensive traditional heritage of Bokeljska Mornarica, both in Montenegro and Croatia, and underlines that Bokeljska Mornarica is closely tied to St. Tryphon and that the Croat people deserves the most credit for creating and preserving the tradition of Boka seamen, the ministry added.
“We believe that, in the spirit of friendly and good neighbourly relations and mutual respect, in the joint interest of Montenegro and Croatia, we will continue the dialogue during the evaluation of the nomination files and find a mutually acceptable solution whereby we will show that minorities and our treatment of their identity, tradition and culture are the firmest links in the building of our relations,” the ministry said.
