DOI: 10.3986/Traditio2022510204 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. TRADITIONES, 51/2, 2022, 71–90
SINGING ON THE VILLAGE PATRON’S 
FEAST AND NEW YEAR’S CAROLS
THE CASE OF THE VILLAGE OF UGOVIZZA (ITALY)
MOJCA RAVNIK
Do nedavnega so prebivalci Kanalske doline (it. Val Canale, 
nem. Kanaltal, furl. Val Cjanâl) govorili slovensko, nemško, 
italijansko in furlansko, a danes prevladuje italijanščina. 
Članek predstavlja šegi žegnanja in novoletnega koledovanja 
v vasi Ukve (it. Ugovizza, nem. Uggowitz, furl. Ugovitse), 
kjer sta se najdlje ohranila slovensko narečje in večjezičnost, 
ki prepletata celotno obredno dogajanje. Sodelavci Inštituta 
za slovensko narodopisje in Avdiovizualnega laboratorija 
ZRC SAZU iz Ljubljane so se več let udeleževali teh šeg, 
snemali dogajanje, pripovedi domačinov in prizore iz 
življenja v vasi in na planini. Avtorica se osredinja na petje, 
pesmi in jezikovno komuniciranje ter opozarja na velik 
pomen večjezičnosti za ohranjanje tradicionalne kulture 
in nasprotno. Še posebej, kjer je prebivalstvo prikrajšano 
za šolsko izobrazbo v maternem jeziku, ki je tudi sicer 
izrinjen iz javnega življenja, nudi tradicionalna kultura 
ljudem redko javno priložnost za sproščeno govorjenje 
materinščine oziroma domačega narečja. V njem je izražen 
pomen celotnega rituala. 
Ključne besede: žegnanje, novoletno koledovanje, slovensko 
ziljsko narečje, večjezičnost, Ukve, Kanalska dolina, slovenska 
manjšina v Videmski pokrajini (Italija).
Until recently, the inhabitants of the Val Canale (Sln. Kanalska 
dolina, Ger. Kanaltal, Fur. Val Cjanâl) spoke Slovenian, 
German, Italian, and Friulian, but today Italian predominates. 
The article presents the folk customs of the village patron’s 
feast and New Year’s caroling and greetings in the village of 
Ugovizza (Slo. Ukve, Ger. Uggowitz, Fur. Ugovitse), where 
the Slovenian dialect and multilingualism, intertwined 
thoroughly in the ritual events, have been preserved for the 
longest time. The collaborators of the Institute of Slovenian 
Ethnology and the ZRC SAZU Audiovisual Laboratory 
from Ljubljana participated in these events for several years 
and filmed customs, the stories of the locals, and scenes from 
the life in the village and the mountains. The author focuses 
on singing, songs, and linguistic communication, pointing 
out the great importance of multilingualism for preserving 
traditional culture and vice versa. Especially where the 
population does not receive education in the mother tongue, 
which is otherwise suppressed from public life, traditional 
culture offers people a rare opportunity to speak their mother 
tongue or the native dialect in public in a relaxed manner. 
It is because it expresses the meaning of the entire ritual.
Keywords: village patron’s feast, New Year’s carols and 
greetings, Slovenian Gailtal dialect, multilingualism, 
Ugovizza, Val Canale, Slovenian minority in the province 
of Udine (Italy)
INTRODUCTION
This article on the village patron’s feast presents the so-called žegen (benediction) (Ger. 
Kirchtag, It. sagra) and the New Year’s carols and greetings, so-called šapa, in the village 
of Ugovizza as manifestations of the multilingualism of the local inhabitants. It is based 
on field research of the Institute of Slovenian Ethnology of the Research Centre of the 
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana from 2006 to 2009.
Initially, our task aimed only at making an ethnographic film on the žegen custom 
on July 23, 2006, but its duration was prolonged due to a particular situation. Extensive 
restoration works were still being carried out in the village, which was severely affected by 
the catastrophic flood in 2003. The žegen had to adapt so that the mass, which could not 
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SINGING ON THE VILLAGE PATRON’S FEAST AND NEW YEAR’S CAROLS: THE CASE OF THE VILLAGE OF ...
take place in the damaged church, was moved under a tent, and the course of the procession 
avoided the construction sites in the village. Still, the feast proved popular with a joyful 
atmosphere, beautiful singing, and music. That is why we decided to film it yearly until 
the church was restored and the solemn morning mass could occur again, which finally 
happened on July 26, 2009. 
As our work was expanded to four years, it also widened in content. Visiting the 
village more often, we realized that the village youth, carrying the front role in žegen, is 
essentially involved in the entire cycle of annual customs. Traditionally, the protagonists 
were only boys aged 18 years (the age of military recruits in the Italian army until January 
1, 2005, when general service was abolished); however, recently, they have been joined by 
their maiden peers. Therefore, some still call them agrute, “recruits,” although their current 
composition and role are more suited to the title classe (a group of peers). We met them 
first at žegen, but later at Christmas and New Year’s customs, with placing of a Christmas 
tree in the middle of the village and with šapa, the New Year’s carols and greetings. Thus, 
we decided to follow them throughout all these festivities. The video was filmed by Naško 
Križnar, Sašo Kuharič, and Miha Peče, with my professional collaboration. The main result 
was the documentary film (Pesmi na žegnanju v Ukvah / Canzoni alla sagra di Ugovizza, 
2015). Since the beginning of our work, I have interviewed many informants and tran-
scribed the recordings. After filming, I continued my research and published a book on 
the subject (Ravnik, 2015).1
A better understanding of the reasons for our choosing Ugovizza requires a brief 
introduction to the history and demography of Val Canale, the situation of the Slovenian 
language, and the specificity of the village of Ugovizza, including an insight into its music 
culture.
HISTORY AND DEMOGRAPHY OF THE VAL CANALE
The Val Canale is a valley some 23 km in length, in the northeast of the Friuli-Venezia 
Giulia region in the province of Udine, near the borders of Austria, Italy, and Slovenia, and 
at the historical junction of Germanic, Romance, and Slavic language areas. Until recently, 
its inhabitants were multilingual and had preserved their ability for mutual understanding, 
speaking Slovenian or Slovenian Gailtal dialect, German or Carinthian German dialect, 
Friulian, and Italian.
Many authors (Grafenauer, 1946; Melik, 1954; Mihelič, 1983; Steinicke, 1984; 
Stranj, 1999) have studied the questions of its settlement, the development of ethnic rela-
tions, demography, and economic activities, though their findings, which differ in some 
1 The transcribed audio and video recordings are kept in the archive of field notes and the video archives 
of the ZRC SAZU Institute of Slovenian Ethnology (see the list of recorded edited and non-edited 
material in Ravnik, 2020).
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issues, cannot be presented in extensive detail here. The Slovenian people are considered 
the oldest stratum of the population. According to Slovenian authors, the valley’s popula-
tion remained predominantly Slovenian until the Late Middle Ages, while among other 
authors there is no unanimous consensus on this issue. The first Slovenian settlers came 
from Carinthia; they were farmers subsisting on agriculture, animal husbandry, mountain 
grazing, and forest exploitation. An important historical date is the year 1007, when the 
German Emperor Henry II donated his estates in the valley to the bishops of Bamberg. 
Their authorities remained in fond memory of the people due to the rational use of forests 
and forest management and because they were then granted the rights to exploit the woods, 
an important basis for economic survival. During the Bamberg administration, the valley 
also underwent many demographic changes, with populations coming in from various 
directions, mainly German and, to a lesser extent, Friulian. The immigration of Germans 
and Friulians intensified since the 15th century in connection with mining and smelting. 
Subsequent waves of the Romance and Germanic populations also arrived in pursuit of 
non-agrarian activities; only the latest Germanic wave in the eastern part of the Tarvisio 
Basin was agrarian. In 1759, the Bamberg finally sold all their rights in the Val Canale to 
Empress Maria Theresa.
Until WWI, the Val Canale was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (it belonged 
to the province of Carinthia, except for the Carniolan cadastral municipality of Bela Peč 
(It. Villa Bassa, Fusine in Valromana). However, after WWI, with the Treaty of Saint-
Germain-en-Laye (1919) and the Treaty of Rapallo (1920), it fell under the Kingdom of 
Italy. The Slovenian and German inhabitants, who had been in the majority until then, 
thus became Italian citizens. Immigration of Italians and Friulians followed, and the ethnic 
composition of the population changed drastically.
Ethnic relations were reversed two decades later when fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, 
after Austria had joined the Third Reich, signed a treaty in 1939 under which residents 
of the Val Canale of non-Italian nationality who were Austrian citizens in 1918 could 
choose German citizenship and relocate to Germany. Most German speakers moved, and 
the majority of the Slovenian speakers stayed. The first empty homes were filled with a 
predominantly Friulian wave from nearby municipalities, later joined by another wave 
from more remote areas. These developments entirely and irreversibly reshaped the old 
settlement structure of the valley, turning the natives into a minority that acquired a kind 
of alien character on their soil.
After WWII, the valley underwent many economic changes as the traditional economic 
activities were losing importance. In the late second half of the 20th century, it developed 
as a traffic intersection and border shopping hub for citizens of Yugoslavia and other 
Eastern European countries. However, it began to decline economically after the entry of 
these countries into the EU at the beginning of the 21st century. Increasingly, residents are 
forced to find work outside the valley, and the population numbers are sharply declining. 
In Val Canale (in the municipalities of Tarvisio (Sln. Trbiž), Malborghetto - Valbruna 
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SINGING ON THE VILLAGE PATRON’S FEAST AND NEW YEAR’S CAROLS: THE CASE OF THE VILLAGE OF ...
(Sln. Naborjet - Ovčja Vas), and Pontebba (Sln. Tablja)), there were 7323 inhabitants on 
December 31, 2009, and 5415 on December 31, 2019. In the municipality of Malborghetto 
- Valbruna, to which the village of Ugovizza belongs, the number fell in the same period 
from 984 to 908.2 According to the latest data, the village of Ugovizza has 315 inhabitants.3
THE SITUATION OF THE SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE
The situation of the Slovenian language in the Val Canale is essentially conditioned by 
the fact that it has never been an equal language of instruction at schools, that it has been 
pushed out of public life, and that it remained enclosed behind the walls of family homes 
and the Church. Many authors have written important works on this issue (e.g., Gariup, 
1978, 2005; Venosi, Gariup, 1978; Minnich, 1989; Šumi, Venosi, 1995; Stranj, 1999; 
Šumi, 2000; Komac, 2002; Gliha Komac, 2009); we only briefly summarize them here.
From the middle of the 18th century, schooling was conducted by pastors, organists, 
and churchmen in the local language. Later, from the mid-19th century, Germanization 
increasingly progressed, especially when, with the school law of 1868, school supervision 
was transferred from the Church to the state. In 1872, Utraquist education was introduced, 
in which less and less space was devoted to teaching the Slovenian language.
The year 1919, when the valley belonged to the Kingdom of Italy, was also a turning 
point for the position of its languages. Italian replaced official German, and during fascism, 
there was a violent Italianization of the indigenous population. In 1923, the government 
introduced monolingual education. Thus, in the period between the two world wars, pastors 
were the only teachers who taught Slovenian while teaching Christian doctrine. However, 
the preservation of the Slovenian language was greatly aided by the busy contacts with 
Slovenian-speaking people from Gailtal (Sln. Ziljska dolina) in Austrian Carinthia as well 
as with those from the Soča Valley (Sln. Posočje) in today Slovenia, who also belonged to 
Italy in that time; many boys and men from the Soča River region came to the Val Canale 
for work, primarily in the forests, were employed, married and settled permanently.
The situation did not improve even in the first years after WWII when the Slovenian 
language could only be used in local schools for religious instruction. Slovenian school 
nurses organized cooking and sewing courses, teaching children to play piano and holding 
2 Popolazione Tarvisio 2001–2019, https://www.tuttitalia.it/friuli-venezia-giulia/63-tarvisio/statistiche/
popolazione-andamento-demografico/ (February 7, 2021); Popolazione Malborghetto - Valbruna 
2001–2019, https://www.tuttitalia.it/friuli-venezia-giulia/58-malborghetto-valbruna/statistiche/
popolazione-andamento-demografico/ (February 7, 2021).; Popolazione Pontebba 2001–2019, https://
www.tuttitalia.it/friuli-venezia-giulia/91-pontebba/statistiche/popolazione-andamento-demografico/ 
(February 7, 2021).
3 Frazione di Ugovizza, http://italia.indettaglio.it/ita/friuliveneziagiulia/udine_malborghettovalbruna_
ugovizza.html (February 7, 2021).
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drama activities. Important was the action of the parish priest of Camporosso (Sln. Žabnice), 
Mario Černet, who organized a Slovenian language course at his own expense during the 
summer holidays of 1964. In 1974, a new pastor, Mario Gariup, came to Ugovizza, started 
publishing the parish newspaper, and, together with the local professor and researcher, 
Salvatore Venosi, organized a Slovenian language course in Ugovizza. This event began 
the continuous tradition of Slovenian private courses, which were later taken over by the 
cultural societies “Planinka,” founded in the 60s, and “Planika,” founded in 1993 and 
later expanded into a cultural center. The “Združenje/Associazione Don Mario Cernet,” 
founded in 1997, also organizes courses and other cultural activities intending to develop 
and preserve the Slovenian language and culture.
In recent years, the Slovenian language slowly entered some nurseries, kindergartens, 
and primary schools, together with music lessons in the Slovenian language. In anticipation 
of a longer-term solution for the inclusion of Slovenian language teaching in the valley’s 
public school system, a course and limited hours of Slovenian language in secondary and 
grammar schools were occasionally carried out as a temporary measure.
The situation has improved with the adoption of the laws for the protection of lin-
guistic minorities in Italy (Zakon, 1999) and for the protection of the Slovenian linguistic 
minority of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (Zakon, 2001), Slovenia’s accession to the 
European Union (2004), and the fall of the Schengen borders (2007). However, as Nataša 
Gliha Komac notes, the Italianization policy of the school system and education has already 
penetrated deeply into the language practices of the local population, and the consequences 
of the long absence of schooling in Slovenian are evident today – the Slovenian language 
is barely heard in the Val Canale (Gliha Komac, 2009: 76–78).
Nevertheless, in recent years efforts to introduce multilingual education have intensi-
fied and have been successful with the start of experimental multilingual education in the 
2020/2021 school year in all final years of kindergartens and first and second grades of 
primary schools, where Slovenian, Italian and German are supposed to play a parity role.
Throughout this time, church activities played the most crucial role in preserving 
the Slovenian language, most comprehensively and for the longest time in Ugovizza, with 
a Slovenian (bilingual) mass and a choir singing. However, this tradition has been under 
threat for several years. The last bilingual priest was Mario Gariup, who served in Ugovizza 
until his death in February 1919. After his passing, there was no more spiritual care in 
the Slovenian language in the valley. Church singers under the direction of organist and 
choirmaster Oswald Errath are now the only ones to preserve the old traditional presence of 
the sung Slovenian word in the Ugovizza church. For a short period, from the end of 2018 
to November 2019, a Franciscan from Slovenia stayed there to help. After his departure, 
the people of the valley sent a letter to the church authorities of the Archdiocese of Udine 
asking that he be sent back. Some 1000 valley inhabitants signed the letter. They are still 
waiting for an answer (Lister, 2020: 114).
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THE VILLAGE OF UGOVIZZA
Economic attachment to agriculture has been traditionally present in Ugovizza. Since the 
village in the valley has little fertile land, mountain livestock farming with forestry has 
always been the most important. Nevertheless, in recent decades, the situation has been 
rapidly changing. Agriculture began losing significance as early as the second half of the 
past century; fewer and fewer families still graze livestock, mow meadows, and store hay 
in mountain haylofts, so the mountain huts are now mostly holiday homes. However, the 
traces of the economic and social structure that took shape in the past have not yet disap-
peared and still significantly characterize the village identity today.
In Ugovizza, the Slovenian dialect has been preserved for the longest time for several 
reasons. The fact that not many residents chose to emigrate to Germany contributed to the 
preservation of the Slovenian language, as the today (or until recently) Slovenian-speaking 
population in Ugovizza still belongs to families whose ancestors lived here before 1919. Life 
on the mountain, where almost all villagers moved in the summers, was likewise influenced 
because their neighbors there were the people from Gailtal who spoke the same dialect and 
were also closely related.
Multilingualism, once so characteristic of the entire valley, was for the longest time 
preserved by the Slovenian-speaking villagers of Ugovizza. Thus, as Gariup wrote in the 
1970s, 70% of the population of Ugovizza used Slovenian as a colloquial language and 
spoke several languages. However, the consequences of a lack of school education were 
evident in the fact that people could not write it (Gariup, 1978: 16–17).
Many of these aspects of the way of life in the village of Ugovizza were researched 
by social anthropologist Robert Gary Minnich, who, from 1981 to 1985, spent sixteen 
months in the field in Ugovizza and Feistritz an der Gail (Sln. Bistrica na Zilji), most 
of this time on Ugovizza mountain. He noticed that the villagers of Ugovizza, members 
of families with village ancestry from 1920 or even earlier, generally mastered German, 
Slovenian and Friulian dialects, but there were differences between the generations. The 
oldest, who were born during the monarchy, spoke Slovenian and German vernacular as 
well as the basics of Italian and sometimes Friulian; those born between 1918 and 1938, 
like their parents, Slovenian and Italian vernacular with somewhat worse German, while 
generations born after WWII still knew the Slovenian and Italian dialects, but rarely any 
of the German codes. At the time of his research, 20% of the population belonged to 
families with a Romance vernacular (Italian dialect or Friulian) who settled in the village 
after 1920. Minnich also wrote that the village of Ugovizza and the Ugovizza mountain 
were known as a place where the native vernacular is spoken, referring to the local variant 
of Slovenian and German used by almost all middle-aged and older multilingual inhabit-
ants (Minnich, 1989: 69–70).
The Slovenian-speaking inhabitants were the bearers of multilingualism in Val Canale 
because only they spoke all the languages in the valley. Thus, it is not surprising that the 
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researchers who in the 1990s studied the quadrilingualism “which had spread in a char-
acteristic way in earlier epochs” found out that today it only concerns the elderly and a 
few other people living mainly in the original Slovenian villages of Ugovizza, Camporosso 
and partly in Valbruna. (Vavti, 2006; Steinicke, and Vavti, 2008)." (Hasenauer, 2020: 30)
MUSIC IN UGOVIZZA
Mario Gariup most exhaustively treated the rich musical life in the village from past to 
present. He wrote that “everyone in this village sang:” shepherds on the mountain, young 
recruits, villagers in the inn and boys in the village, at šapa and žegen (Gariup, 2005: 127). 
Many pastors and villagers, zealous for music, encouraged church, folk, and choral singing, 
folklore, and music teaching.
Slovenian church singing in the village has been ongoing for more than a century, 
as evidenced from the beginning of the 19th century. The first parish choir was founded 
in 1923. Thanks to extraordinary musicians among the villagers, singers, and organists, 
Slovenian singing did not stop even in the most challenging years of fascist repression, 
being revived after the end of WWII. Everyday singing in the choir lasted until the end 
of 2000 (Gariup, 2005).
The Ugovizza singers became more widely known with their two choirs, Planinka, 
founded in 1971, and Ojsternik, founded in 1982, which performed folk and church songs. 
The village also had its brass band.
In 1978, Mario Gariup opened the Music School and founded the cultural society 
and folklore group Lepi vrh, which performed successfully at home and elsewhere. To the 
present day, more choirs and ensembles arose; people from Ugovizza sang together with 
people from different localities in the Val Canale and included Slovenian, German, Italian, 
and Friulian songs in their repertoire.
Today there is a music school in Ugovizza and a brass band, the Gruppo Bandistico 
Valcanale, in which the youth enthusiastically participate.
ŽEGEN
The žegen feast is celebrated in July, on the day of St. Jacob on July 25 or the Sunday clos-
est to it.
It begins in the morning with a mass, followed by a gathering in the square in front 
of the church. Music begins, and the group of male singers lined up in a circle, the konta,4 
4 Konta is the name of the boys’ squad in a traditional game in the nearby Gailtal in Carinthia, where 
riders on horseback have to break a pole-fastened barrel using a metal rod.
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sing the first song. Meanwhile, the “recruits” and girls start pouring wine for singers and 
musicians, pinning them bouquets of carnations and rosemary. Singing alternates with 
music, and couples dance. After a few songs, the group leaves in a procession through the 
village, led by “recruits” with girls and musicians. They stop in front of each inn, where 
the waitress offers the singers and band wine. The konta and musicians continue to sing 
and play; there is more dancing. In the late afternoon, a closing party takes place with 
food, drink, music, and a ball.
The feast has changed a lot in recent decades. In the past, it lasted only one day. Most 
of the villagers, who lived on the mountain in the summer, went down to the village for 
žegen, with the villagers of nearby villages and relatives from nearby villages in Austria also 
attending. After mass, merrymaking was done with singing and music, and they returned 
home in the evening.
However, as early as the 1970s, the žegen festivity began to lengthen. Fewer young 
people in the village and fewer relatives from the Gailtal attended the feast, and young 
people wanted to have fun in other ways besides the traditional feast. Therefore, different 
programs are added to the feast on the days before Sunday, e.g., concerts, sports games, 
music with dancing, etc. According to the organizers, this keeps the feast alive because, as 
they say, the costs are too high and would not be repaid in a single day. Even now, though, 
Sunday remains the main holiday.
SINGING AND MUSIC AT ŽEGEN
Žegen is a feast of music. In the years of our filming, the village of Ugovizza was musically 
self-sufficient (with a little help from Camporosso (Sln. Žabnice), the neighboring village 
which is also traditionally the closest) not only with singers but also with two music bands 
playing at the procession and dance.
The underlying thread and most original component of the celebration is the singing of 
the konta, comprised of men and senior men, many of whom also sing in the church choir. 
Their repertoire expresses the rich Ugovizza tradition of folk, church, and choir singing, 
transmitted from generation to generation up to this day. Along with primarily Slovenian 
songs, they also sing some German songs, which are part of the old village tradition. At 
first, they sing separately, ritually in their circle, with the musicians playing between songs, 
but towards the end of the celebration, other villagers, musicians, and youth join in the 
singing. Some Italian songs can also be heard then, for example, “La mula de Parenzo,” 
“Rosamunda,” “Simonetta” (composed by Gabriel Moschitz from a Slovenian-speaking 
family in Camporosso), “Una paloma bianca,” etc.
The leading musicians playing in the procession through the village and at the closing 
dance were the Doganîrs (customs officers in Friulian), led by a man from Camporosso 
who founded them in 1974. Self-taught musicians and multi-instrumentalists (guitar, 
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violin, accordion, trumpet, clarinet, saxophone, drums) mainly played Slovenian folk and 
pop-folk music melodies. They sang primarily Slovenian songs but otherwise performed 
with a more mixed repertoire elsewhere in Friuli, Italy, Slovenia, and Austria.
However, the greatest joy of the villagers was their youngest ensemble, Opice band 
(Monkeys Band), formed in 2005 by young musically-talented boys, heirs of the musical 
tradition of their families. There were six of them at the outset, the youngest was 13, and 
the oldest was 19.5 In their words, they mainly wished to continue “questa nostra musica” 
(this music of ours), the musical tradition of the valley, at home and in the Slovenian and 
Austrian neighborhoods. They played in the procession through the village and at the 
evening dance. 
ŠAPA6
On the eve of the Day of the Innocent Children, December 27, and the morning of January 
1, “recruits” are caroling in Ugovizza. The custom is called šapa; they also say they carry the 
brina,7 a large ornate heart-shaped flat tuft woven from bushy, straight spruce branches. In 
the middle is sewn a red velvet heart, and on it are ornaments and symbols of happiness, 
health, and prosperity, e.g. a chain of love (so that husband, wife, and family members 
always love each other), money (never to lack any), a horseshoe (for happiness), etc. For 
many years, the brina was made by a housewife in an inn, and this tradition was passed 
on to younger women from innkeeper families.
Andreina Nicoloso Ciceri (1992: 603–605) was the first to describe this custom in 
more detail, and Niko Kuret treated it, after her description, in the broader context of 
magical acts with green branches or evergreen plants around the winter solstice, dating 
back to pre-Christian times. He believes that initially boys and adult men smacked girls 
and young women with branches for blessing and fertility, which has been preserved in 
some places, including Slovenia, until recently. He adds that it was taken over from them 
by children who, also in the Val Canale, on the Day of Innocent Children, on December 
28, slap adults with a spruce branch and wish them health and long life (Kuret, 1989: 
412–413).
5 All these data refer to the years 2006–2009.
6 Šapa is the Carinthian term for this ritual, deriving from the verb šapati, meaning to smack lightly 
(Snoj, 2016: 741).
7 Brina is a spruce tree, or also a ritual spruce branch and bunch of spruce or evergreen twigs.
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The church choir sings Anton Hlond’s song “Molim te ponižno” (I humbly pray Thou) – The 
composer of the song was a Salesian of Polish descent, who worked in the Ljubljana parish of 
Rakovnik from 1904–1914. His rich oeuvre includes Latin and Slovenian texts – at mass under 
the tent because the church was useless due to damage during the catastrophic flood in 2003, July 
23, 2006 (videogram).
The konta sings the first song, “Prijatli, zdaj veseli bodimo” (Friends, let’s be happy now), — The 
Slovenian folk song sung after the mass, in front of the tent, July 23, 2006 (videogram).
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The songs in the German language – e.g., “Jå wånn wir Kärntner Buam« (We Carinthian boys) – 
are part of the old Carinthian Slovenian–German bilingual tradition, July 23, 2006 (videogram).
The Slovenian folk song “Pozimi pa rožice ne cveto” (In winter the flowers do not bloom) sung by 
konta in front of the dairy and cheese factory, where the mess took place because the church was 
not yet usable. July 22, 2007 (videogram).
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Singing the German and Slovenian toast “Ein prosit!” (A toast) “Kolkr kapljic tolko let!” (As many 
drops as many years), July 22, 2007 (videogram).
The bilingual song “Preljuba moja srca, was hast du mir getan?“ (The love of my heart, what have 
you done to me?), in which Slovenian and German verses alternate, July 20, 2008 (videogram). 
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Musicians also join in singing the popular Italian song “La mula de Parenzo” (The girl from Parenzo), 
July 23, 2006 (videogram).
Singing the Slovenian folk song “Kaj nam pa morejo” (What can they do to us). At the end of the 
procession through the village, the singing of konta, other villagers, and visitors continues in front 
of the last inn, July 26, 2009 (videogram).
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SINGING AND GREETING DURING ŠAPA
“Recruits” go through the village from house to house; three enter. The first carries the 
brina, the second is a waiter with a tray of glasses and a bottle of martini, and the third 
carries the money. In front of the house entrance, they place a lantern on the floor, which 
in the old days lit up the group’s way so that they know where they are going. In the house, 
they greet the master and housewife with extended greetings, explaining the meaning of 
all the objects adorning the brina, in Slovenian dialect or Italian, according to wish. At 
our filming time, nobody wished the greeting in German, but the “recruits,” as they said, 
would also know it. The locals give them some cash, the waiter pours a martini, they make 
a toast together and, when leaving, are greeted by the locals thus: “K letu!” (“To the year!”)
In front of the houses, singers are waiting. When a departing recruit shouts “Hoch!” 
they begin to sing the German song “Hoch soll sie Leben,” and then they move on and 
continue singing.
On the first day of the new year, after morning mass, they go to the inns, where they 
greet the innkeepers and their guests. The patrons are thrilled; they sing, there is also an 
accompanying accordion player, and a joyful festive mood develops.8
8 For this research we did not complete a list of all songs, so we can only say that Slovenian songs 
predominated: “Pozimi pa rožice ne cveto” (Flowers don’t Bloom in Winter); “Nocoj pa, oh, nocoj” 
(Tonight, oh Tonight); “Kje je moj mili dom” (Where is my Sweet Home); “Pri farni cerkvici” (At the 
Parish Church); “Petelinček je zapel” (The Little Cock Crowed); “Kaj nam pa morejo” (Nothing they 
can Do to Us) etc. One can also hear examples of bilingual songs, for example a toast in Slovenian 
“Kolkor kapljic, tolko let” (A Year for every Drop) followed by the German toast “Ein prosit” (Cheerst) 
The šapa, New Year greeting with brina with symbols of happiness and well-being to the housewife 
in the Slovenian language, December 27, 2006 (videogram).
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THE MULITILINGUALISM OF ŽEGEN AND ŠAPA
Robert G. Minnich was the first to describe žegen as a multilingual event in 1981. There are 
many interesting details in it, e.g., the day’s liturgy with oratio “superbly performed by the 
village’s regionally renowned adult choir,” the singing of “beloved Ukve songs performed 
in Slovenian dialect” (Minnich, 1998: 165–166) or the brass ensemble from Podklošter/
Arnoldstein (Austrian Carinthia). The holiday was, as Minnich describes it, inspiring and 
joyful. In those years in Ugovizza, there was a youth dance ensemble, the “Lepi vrh,” which 
by mid-afternoon “began performing their carefully choreographed group dances to the 
music of musicians, who normally accompany them during performances which they hold 
throughout the three country region” (ibid.: 167). These musicians and the group’s chore-
ographer were from Jesenice in Slovenia. At sundown, “another youthful group of German 
speaking folk musicians (recruited in upper Carinthia and well versed in the regionally 
popular music of the day – ‘pop-folk?’) occupied the dance podium” (ibid.). However, the 
most exciting thing is said in conclusion: 
In the course of the evening I encountered several elderly “Kanaltaler” from nearby 
settlements (Lužnice, Naborjet, Ovčja vas) who told me that they regularly attend 
the Ukve žegen because it is an occasion to relive a village tradition which they 
recall from their youth and which is no longer practiced in their native village; 
it was also a public occasion, I was told, when they could easily come in contact 
with old friends and speak the language of their childhood, Slovenian or German 
dialect. On the occasion of its žegnanje and firemen’s ball Ukve is a magnet for 
Canal Valley’s ‘indigenous’ population, regardless of whether they claim German 
or Slovenian dialect as their mother tongue. And this substantiates the local view 
that Ukve is an indigenous island in an Italian sea, something which census data 
readily confirm. (Minnich, 1998: 167)
In comparison with Minnich’s description, the celebration of žegen that we observed 
from 2006 to 2009 was different in some details, e.g., there was no Carinthian ensemble 
playing in the procession, the folk dance ensemble did not exist anymore, etc. However, 
it is important to emphasize that the essential features, which characterize it as a manifes-
tation of multilingualism, have remained the same or even became more expressed with 
Slovenian singing in the church, with Slovenian and German singing of the konta, with 
musicians playing and singing in Slovenian, German and Italian, and with the communica-
tion between participants and visitors in Slovenian and German dialects of the Val Canale 
and Gailtal, and standard Italian, German, and Slovenian languages.
or the bilingual song “Preljuba moja srca” (My Dearest Hearts) with verses Preljuba moja srca / was 
hab ich dir getan, / da jaz ne morem spati / die ganze liebe Nacht (My dearest heart / was hab ich dir 
getan / so I can’t shut my eye / die ganze liebe Nacht).
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In šapa, as in žegen, the youth plays a leading role, but it is exposed differently here. 
In žegen, they are surrounded by older singers and musicians who speak and sing in all the 
relevant languages, while in the case of šapa, they must carry themselves out the old ritual 
in every house in the language that people wish.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The issue of multilingualism in the Val Canale has recently been addressed by a group 
of Austrian and Italian researchers: Leonie Hasenauer, Peter Čede, Igor Jelen, and Ernst 
Steinicke, who inquired whether “Little Europe” is disappearing. They refer with this apt 
metaphor to the unique multilingualism of the valley. In the summary of their very inter-
esting research, they concluded that the results 
show that “Little Europe” is still evident, even though the broad existence of 
the area’s four official languages – the two minority languages plus Italian and 
Friulian – has in the meantime been almost lost. The region’s generational shift 
(including intermarriage) and a significant population decline have intensified 
this development since the nineties. Yet, echoes of the autochthonous Val Canale 
population are reflected in the area’s symbolic ethnicity of material and imma terial 
cultural heritage. This is increasingly perceived as an asset by the majority of the 
population, not considering the ethnic origin, strengthening a no longer ethno-
linguistic but a new, regionally connoted identity. (Hasenauer et al., 2020: 29)
The findings of this group of researchers relate to the results of our research, but we 
cannot list them in more detail here, although this would be illuminating. Let us point out 
their assertion that cultures are renewed or continued through “ethnic symbolism,” which 
means customs, habits, and local traditions in general, together with some aspects of the 
landscape with spontaneous architecture and other related forms of material and social 
culture (Hasenauer et al., 2020: 34). Nevertheless, it is worth noting that their research 
would further benefit from taking a closer look at traditional customs, which they men-
tioned but probably did not attend to.
It is certainly not the aim here to embellish the current state of the Slovenian language 
and multilingualism in the Val Canale – revealed pragmatically to researchers by the number 
of speakers, who can be counted on the proverbial fingers of both hands – but despite this, 
it would seem that to attain an objective image, one must be present directly in everyday 
and festive occasions, listening to the singing, storytelling, and conversations of the people.
In the research mentioned above, we can read the exciting finding from the 1990s that 
“quadrilingualism, which had spread in a characteristic way in previous eras, now affects 
only the elderly, and a few other individuals mostly residing in the originally Slovenian 
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villages of Ugovizza, Camporosso and, in part, in Valbruna” (Hasenauer et al., 2020: 30; 
cf. Vavti, 2006; Steinicke, Vavti, 2008). However, at the time of our research (the end 
of the following decade), multilingualism was still very much alive, especially on žegen. 
Most of the communication between the participants was indeed in Italian. However, the 
older locals spoke Slovenian with each other and the visitors from Slovenia, and Slovenian 
and German with the visitors from nearby Gailtal. Multilingualism was best expressed in 
singing, the most beautiful and compelling part of the event – the Slovenian singing of the 
church choir and the singing of Slovenian, German, and Italian songs in the procession 
through the village.
Since we finished filming and researching in 2009, I have been visiting žegen almost 
every year, realizing how vividly the feast lives on and adapts to generational changes and 
other life circumstances. Among singers of the konta, there are fewer and fewer old singers 
who know traditional Slovenian and German songs. However, there are also growing ranks 
of young boys and men who want to learn them, assisted by the church choir leader and 
organist. Local musicians have been dwindling because, as I was told, the young musicians 
found it difficult to meet for rehearsals or play together due to schooling or employment, 
while older musicians had other obligations and problems. That is why the organizers 
invited pop-folk music ensembles from Slovenia, who play the same popular music, and 
whose members also know the songs sung by the konta.
In 2020 I attended žegen, which was shortened that year due to anti-pandemic measures. 
On the square in front of the church, a priest from Gorizia held the mass in Slovenian and 
Italian, followed by a short celebration with songs, music, and dance. The musicians came 
from the Trieste Karst. Everybody expressed hope that it will soon be possible to celebrate 
in a way as relaxed as before.
The same goes for šapa. At the 2021 New Year, people in Ugovizza were left without 
caroling. The lady who had made the brina in previous years made it again, but “recruits” 
did not go around the village greeting from house to house as the anti-pandemic measures 
forbade it. The organist made a smaller brina and placed it in the church in an ingenious 
crib in the shape of a peasant hut constructed by the villagers. That is how brina fulfilled 
its role of bringing good wishes to the people.
During the years of our filming until 2009, both rituals were multilingual. Therefore, 
it would be extremely interesting to analyze, in the following years, the continuity and 
changes in their music repertoire (the songs sung by the konta and the pieces of music 
played by musicians) and in the communication between the participants (the languages 
spoken), and to research whether žegen and šapa are still multilingual and to which extent. 
Could they otherwise persist, considering that multilingualism intertwines with them as 
their constitutive element? Is it presumptuous to say that multilingualism will be preserved 
if the Slovenian language is preserved?
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-nella-tarda-et%C3%A0-moderna (August 27, 2022).
Komac, Nataša. 2002. Na meji med jeziki in kulturami: Širjenje slovenskega jezika v Kanalski dolini. Kanalska 
dolina: Slovenski raziskovalni inštitut, Slovensko kulturno središče Planika; Ljubljana: Inštitut za 
narodnostna vprašanja.
Kuret, Niko. 1989. Praznično leto Slovencev: Starosvetne šege in navade od pomladi do zime. 2 Vols. Ljubljana: 
Družina.
Lister, Luciano. 2020. Za maše v slovenščini v Kanalski dolini. Trinkov koledar za leto 2021: 113–115.
Melik, Anton. 1954. Slovenski alpski svet: Slovenija: Geografski opis. 2. Opis slovenskih pokrajin. Ljubljana: 
Slovenska matica. 
Mihelič, Darja. 1983. Bamberški gozdni red za Kanalsko dolino in Koroško iz leta 1584. Acta historico-
oeconomica Iugoslaviae 10 (1): 51–58. 
Minnich, Robert Gary. 1989. Govoriti slovensko – biti Slovenec. Traditiones 18: 65–88.
Minnich, Robert Gary. 1998. Homesteaders and Citizens: Collective Identity Formation on the Austro-Italian-
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Nicoloso Ciceri, Andreina. 1992. Tradizioni popolari in Friuli: Volume I, II. Udine: Chiandetti Editore. 
Ravnik, Mojca. 2015. Na žegen!: Žegnanje in drugi prazniki z rekruti v Ukvah v Kanalski dolini. Ljubljana: 
Založba ZRC, ZRC SAZU. 
Ravnik, Mojca. 2020. Pogovori z ljudmi iz Ukev: Videodokumentacija iz let 2006 do 2009, posneta za 
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Steinicke, Ernst, and Stefka Vavti. 2008. Ethnischer Wandel im Kanaltal Deutsche und Slowenen zwischen 
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AUDIOVISUAL REFERENCE
Pesmi na žegnanju v Ukvah / Canzoni alla sagra di Ugovizza: Posneto med leti 2006 in 2009 / Girato tra il 
2006 e il 2009 [Songs on patron’s feast. Recorded between 2006 and 2009]. 2015. Strokovno vodstvo 
[professional management] Mojca Ravnik, montaža [edited by] Miha Peče, snemanje [filmed by] 
Naško Križnar, Miha Peče, Sašo Kuharič, režija [directed by] Miha Peče. Ljubljana: Avdiovizualni 
laboratorij ZRC SAZU. Dokumentarni film [Documentary].
PETJE NA ŽEGNANJU IN NOVOLETNO KOLEDOVANJE:
PRIMER VASI UKVE (ITALIJA)
Do nedavnega so prebivalci Kanalske doline govorili slovensko, nemško, italijansko in furlansko, 
danes pa prevladuje italijanščina. V članku sta predstavljena žegnanje in novoletno koledovanje 
v Ukvah, ob katerih sta se najbolje ohranila slovensko narečje in večjezičnost. Sodelavci Inštituta 
za slovensko narodopisje ZRC SAZU iz Ljubljane Naško Križnar, Miha Peče, Sašo Kuharič 
in avtorica so več let raziskovali in snemali te šege in življenje v vasi in na planini in nastalo je 
več dokumentarnih filmov (Pesmi na žegnanju v Ukvah / Canzoni alla sagra di Ugovizza, 
2015), posnetega je bilo veliko video gradiva, avtorica pa je o tem objavila knjigo (2015). V 
istem času so v vasi potekala obnovitvena dela po katastrofi, ki je prizadela vas leta 2003, ko 
je potok, ki priteče s planine, poplavil del vasi. Obnova je trajala več let. Inštitut je dogajanje 
dokumentiral vse do leta 2009, ko je bila maša ponovno v obnovljeni cerkvi. 
Žegen praznujejo na sv. Jakoba 25. julija ali na najbližjo nedeljo. Je praznik cerkvene in 
vaške skupnosti, družine, sorodstva in sosedstva. Pripravijo, izvajajo in spremljajo ga vaščani 
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vseh starosti. Po maši s petjem domačega cerkvenega zbora zaigra muzika in zapojejo pevci, 
nato prevzamejo vodilno vlogo 18-letni fantje (to je bila starost nabornikov v času obvezne 
vojaške službe), v novejšem času so z njimi tudi vrstnice. Pevcem in muzikantom točijo vino, 
pripenjajo šopke in plešejo. Po nekaj pesmih in plesih vodijo sprevod skozi vas s postanki pred 
gostilnami, kjer pojejo in igrajo, pari pa se zavrtijo. Sklene se z večernim plesom. Ukljani so 
znani kot dobri pevci in na žegnu se izrazijo njihova glasbena nadarjenost, izročilo ljudskega 
in cerkvenega petja in pevskih zborov. 
Šapa pa je koledovanje, pravijo tudi, da brino nosijo. Brina je šop smrekovih vej, na njem 
pa je prišito rdeče žametno srce z okraski, simboli sreče, zdravja in blaginje. 27. decembra zvečer 
gredo rekruti z brino v spremstvu pevcev od hiše do hiše in voščijo srečno novo leto. 
Avtorica je pozorna na petje, pesmi in jezikovno sporazumevanje ter opozarja na pomen 
večjezičnosti za ohranjanje tradicionalne kulture in nasprotno. Še posebej, kjer so prebivalci 
prikrajšani za šolsko izobrazbo v materinščini, ki je tudi sicer izrinjena iz javnega življenja, 
daje ljudem tradicionalna kultura redko javno priložnost za sproščeno govorjenje v materinščini 
oziroma domačem narečju. V žegnu in šapi večjezičnost prepleta celotno obredno dogajanje. 
Dr. Mojca Ravnik, Ljubljana, Slovenia, mojca.ravnik@zrc-sazu.si