They are perhaps most famous for their timelapse vidoes promoting Croatian tourism, but award-winning Osijek photographers Romulic and Stojcic turned their attention to a wonderful portrayal of a Hungarian tradition in the Croatian region of Baranja on October 6, 2016.
Kakasütés (read: kakašiteš; Hun. kakas = rooster, ütés = blow), a Hungarian national custom, final manifestation of Faršangi, a carnival festivity in the Baranja village of Vardarac.
The manifestation has a hundred year tradition, but has nearly disappeared in modern times. In 2003 it was renewed the local youth and has been organised since by the local Vardarac council and local associations. It takes place on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. The programme consists of a procession of horse-drawn carriages touring village streets with screaming, yelling and song. Young men (dressed in costumes and masks representing a rooster), descend off the wagons and dance around girls and women standing outside their houses and greeting the merry procession. In exchange for a dance with the costumed “roosters,” the women and girls reciprocate with unusual gifts – chicken eggs, a symbol of the birth of new life (to have a fertile year). Masked “roosters” have the right to catch anything moving around the yard so hosts lock away their poultry and instead gift roosters.
In the central part of the manifestation, in the village centre, “roosters” choose girls and blindfold them. The girls then need to use a long cane to hit a roosters head planted in the ground. It used to be a bloody scene so an artificial head is used today. The lucky girl who completes the mission will, according to centennial belief, marry that year. The winner’s reward is everything the “roosters” gathered in the village.
All the gifts are collected and made into a meal everyone shares that evening together with dance and song.
Kakasütés – Baranja from Romulic & Stojcic on Vimeo.
