Living tradition

Torchbearers light up the sky on Holy Saturday

Torch-wielding at the Fackelträger/Bokvarji cultural association. They ask for a good harvest and also for protection from bad weather.(Bild: Fackelträger Globasnitz)

This fiery Easter custom is only practiced in a few villages. The "Krone" visited the torchbearers in Bleiburg and Globasnitz. 

When the meter-high, burning wooden poles rise into the air in Globasnitz and St. Georgen near Bleiburg on Holy Saturday, the torchbearers of Southern Carinthia ask for a plentiful harvest and protection from storms. "The custom actually originated with the Celts," explains Dietmar Presitschek, torchbearer from St. Georgen.

At the Schein family's farm on Hemmaberg: the trees are felled in winter and up to 200 wedges can be hewn into a torch.(Bild: Fackelträger Globasnitz )

The work begins shortly after Christmas so that the torches can still dry when they are ready.(Bild: Fackelträger Globasnitz)

Long preparations for a fiery spectacle

On Holy Saturday, the torch bearers with their poles up to four meters high make their grand entrance. "We walk around the fields from the sports field, swinging and turning figures," Smrečnik tells the "Kärntner Krone" newspaper. And the 20 sprightly torchbearers wear distinctive felt hats to protect them from the hot embers falling down.

But the numerous volunteer torchbearers start their work long before the Easter holidays. "The trees for the torches are felled in winter. While the wood is still soft, the wedges are also driven in for ventilation," explains Andrej Smrečnik from the Torchbearers/Bokvarji cultural association in Globasnitz. "There will then be enough time for the wood to dry well before Easter."

 

Torches have always been lit in the field below the parish church of St. Georgen.(Bild: Evelyn HronekKamerawerk)

St. Georgen torchbearers are represented at the Bleiburg Ham Festival. Dietmar Presitschek (left) was there for the first time as a child. He has been swinging the torch for over 40 years.(Bild: EVELYN HRONEK)

Tradition is ancient
A single torchbearer from Globasnitz and Bleiburg swings up to 100 kilos through the air. This makes the fiery spectacle a sweat-inducing task.

Torch-wielding has a particularly long tradition in St. Georgen bei Bleiburg. "We've been doing this for over 150 years," says Dietmar Presitschek.

And as in the past, the enthusiastic spectators can once again look forward to spectacular figures from the ambitious torchbearers.