22.1.2003.
ZEJANE
-
Of all the posts in Liburnia during the Halloween some have special
significance. Those on which the scarecrow is hanging. Regardless of
whom the scarecrow is; Trolej, Rivijera, hunchback or millionaire…
somebody has to make it dress it and paint it.
This is already the tenth year that I am
making the scarecrow all by my self and before we use to make it in a
group, said Luciano Doricic member of the folklore society Zejane bell
ringers and where mother and father of this Zejane millionaire, which
was on the day of Three Kings hung in the center of Zejane.
Explain the technique of building the
scarecrow?
You take an overall which you fill up not with
the straw but with the second cut grass to make it fluffy. The scarecrow
must be flexible and light. It is supported by the interior wire mash
and the shoes and gloves are wired in. At the end you place the mask
which we buy at the end of the carnival for the next year. Since we hang
the scarecrow on January 6th the masks are normally not yet
available.
Where do you get the costume? Do you make a
fancy scarecrow or this year is an exception because it is a
millionaire?
We decide a while back that the scarecrow must
be a bit better dressed and then our women folk take over. However, you
have to say that its name is given only after it is finished.
When and how?
The scarecrow is normally completed in the
morning of the Three Kings day. Takes about three hours and then the
group decides on the name. It is always connected to a fact. Last year
it was Furman that is because we were not able to drive it through town
with the horse driven carriage because the horse was to wild. This year
we did use the carriage. In Zejane we actually have five horses.
The
scarecrow is displayed for 8 weeks. Will the millionaire last that long?
Has there ever been a case where the scarecrow lost a part or something
happened?
One year the rope got
loose and the scarecrow was in the morning sitting under the pole and
because it looked more like a sleeping person than a scarecrow did not
surprised the people going to work in the morning.
Translated by Pino Golja
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