The city of Koprivnica staged a historical spectacle this weekend
The Renaissance festival in Koprivnica was conceived as an educational manifestation that could also double as a tourist attraction. One look at the programme, and you’ll see why: there was a medieval trade fair where local craftsmen presented their products, a knights’ workshop, a Renaissance fashion show, and a massive siege reenactment. Medieval rugby was played, falconers showed off their skills. To no one’s surprise, the festival included a feast worthy of kings, and it’s worth noting it was a first cultural-historical manifestation in Croatia that didn’t feature anything made of plastic. Food and drinks were served only in wooden and ceramic plates, pots and cups!
Here’s a fun fact that’s pretty obvious in Croatian, but gets a bit lost in translation: the city of Koprivnica gets its name after kopriva, the Croatian word for stinging nettle. According to a legend that dates back to the 13th century, the Croatian-Hungarian king Bela IV was riding through the area where Koprivnica is situated today, when his horse kicked him off his back and into a large batch of nettle. That must have stung a lot! The furious king allegedly called the place Koprivnica – Nettletown? – and its inhabitants got the name Koprivničanci; for the purpose of this article, let’s call them Nettlers.
So, the good old stinging plant heavily marks the city’s tradition and heritage, and it’s no wonder the festival also got infused with a large dose of nettle. It was an opportunity to try nettle leaf beer, nettle-flavoured chocolate, and most importantly – nettle leaf perfume that played a crucial role this weekend.
Apart from seeing a large number of visitors, the festival set a new Guinness record in ‘most people applying perfume’. Yep, there’s a category for mass perfume-sniffing, and Koprivnica broke the previous record and set the new bar at 1565 people who tried the so-called ‘Urtica’ perfume in under an hour!
The creator of the nettle perfume, Dejan Levačić from Čakovec, said his ‘Urtica’ is a refreshing summer scent with a 25%-concentration of nettle essence.
In case you’re in the area, there’s still time to drop by the attractive fair, as the festival will go on late into the night. If not, make sure to check out the photos and videos here!
Source: Lokalni
