After a long break, Serbia is once again a participant in world competitions in the most demanding farming skill—plowing, and the credit for this goes to the young Marija Seočanac from Novo Selo near Vrnjačka Banja, a girl who convincingly triumphed in numerous competitions.
In Podunavci near Vrnjačka Banja, the young female plowman Marija Seočanac delighted numerous visitors with her story of success, perseverance, and love for her homeland.
“She was one of the stars of last week’s Miholje Village Gatherings in Podunavci,” said Minister for Village Care Milan Krkobabić, adding, “In addition to Vrnjačka Banja, the Miholje Gatherings were also held in the villages of Vršac, Žagubica, Majdanpek, Trgovište, and Sjenica in the presence of a huge number of participants and visitors—in Uljma alone, more than four thousand people attended the gatherings.”
This twenty-five-year-old student of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, who grew up in Novo Selo behind the wheel of her grandfather’s tractor, defeated as many as fifty men at the domestic plowing championship a few years ago, thus showing that girls can be more agile and skillful than many men even in difficult jobs.
With her perseverance and dedication, she managed to re-enroll Serbia in the World Plowing Organization, returning our country to the international plowing map.
“Since I was a child, I loved spending time in the field. My grandfather was proud that I learned to plow so early, and that gave me additional encouragement to improve,” says Marija, who today skillfully operates tractors, trucks, and forklifts. She says she organizes a competition in her village every year.
“For a good plowing, the first furrow is important—the correct depth, width, direction, so that no plants remain in the overturned soil, but that everything is perfect. Plowing is not just a job, but also a tradition and the pride of our village,” Marija pointed out, as stated in the announcement.
Last week in the villages of five other municipalities, participants of the Miholje Gatherings measured their strengths in many disciplines. In Štavalj near Sjenica, a village decathlon was held where, with loud cheering, teams invested their last ounce of strength for victory in the rope-pulling competition.
The village of Medveđica in Žagubica gathered more than a thousand people, and 28 Homolje villages participated, where in addition to the village decathlon competition, a real gastronomic spectacle was organized—the most delicious cheese, the most delicious and largest cornbread—this time with a diameter of as much as 168 centimeters, the most delicious wedding cabbage were chosen, and all of this was tasted by visitors along with a rich cultural and artistic program and exhibition stands of domestic products and handicrafts. The fastest spinner, the fastest water carrier, and the fastest beer drinker were also chosen, and wheel pushing and horse-drawn cart pushing were also organized.
The village of Boljetin near Majdanpek presented its region and Wallachian customs through the performance of folklore dancers on stage and the performance of original songs without musical accompaniment.
In the north, in Vršac, in the village of Uljma, the Miholje Gatherings gathered as many as four thousand people, both participants and visitors. They were marked by a race for the youngest and a children’s theater performance, while adults competed in culinary specialties—the famous Transfiguration stew was cooked, and a warm summer day was refreshed by a film screening under the stars in an open-air cinema.
For the next weekend, Alibunar, Kovačica, and Čoka, as part of their Miholje Village Gatherings, announce a rich program—literary evenings, sports tournaments, art colonies, exhibitions of souvenirs and domestic products, as well as showdowns in fast embroidery, making beans, stew, cakes, and rolling croissants.
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Source: Kurir, Photo: Marija Seocanac