Winter School of Croatian Folklore in Sisak showcases Alpine traditions

ZAGREB,  2 Jan (Hina) -The Croatian Heritage Foundation (HMI) is organising the 32nd Winter School of Croatian Folklore in Sisak from 3 to 12 January, dedicated to the Alpine area of Croatian traditional culture.

The event will bring together 127 participants as well as numerous distinguished folklore educators,  experts in ethnochoreology and music experts.

This year’s Winter School of Croatian Folklore programme, according to HMI, focuses on the Alpine area of Croatian traditional culture and includes dances, costumes and musical instruments from the regions of Zagorje, Karlovac Pokuplje, Jastrebarsko (Jaska) uplands and Pojle, Istria, the Burgenland Croats, the Samobor, Zaprešić and Vrapče areas, the Zagreb uplands and plains, the Sesvete, Zelina and Vrbovec uplands and plains, Međimurje and Podravina.

The 2026 Winter School of Croatian Folklore, held at the Hotel Panonija, is attended by 102 participants in the dance programme, 12 in the tambura section and 13 in the traditional instruments section, coming from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, the United States of America and Argentina.

Promoting Croatian traditional culture

The School of Croatian Folklore is based on a scholarly and professional programme established in 1964 by Ivan Ivančan, a Croatian scholar in the fields of ethnology and ethnochoreology.

The programme has been continuously upgraded and adapted to new academic insights and contemporary trends, HMI notes.

The current programme director, Andrija Ivančan, has incorporated modern approaches to dance education and all the key elements required for training leaders of folklore groups, while Maestro Siniša Leopold has shaped a programme intended for leaders of tambura ensembles.

HMI emphasises that this programme also fulfils its important objectives: preserving, strengthening and promoting Croatian traditional culture, as well as Croatian national and ethnic identity among the Croatian diaspora, members of ethnic Croatian communities outside the homeland and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and fostering connections between the diaspora and Croatia itself.

The main goal of the professional programme is to preserve the authenticity and originality of folklore: — traditional dance, song and music — as the most widespread and recognisable part of traditional culture today.