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A bust of the great poet, France Prešeren. (source)
Today is PreÅ¡eren Day in Slovenia. One of this site’s oldest traditions is to spend it with someone who shares this famous Slovenian surame. I almost forgot this year, but in the last minute arranged for a quick chat with the very kind Matjaž PreÅ¡eren (32) of Maribor.
As always: visit Prešeren.net for all your Prešeren needs. And have a happy holiday!
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Michael M.: What were you like as a child? How was it growing up with such a famous surname?
Prešeren: I was a very happy child. I have four brothers and one sister. We were a big and happy family. But the name was not special back then. Today it is, more so.
Michael M.: Do you have any similarities with the poet? (A fondness for poetry, drinking, etc…)
PreÅ¡eren: Poetry, yes. Good wine, yes. RefoÅ¡k, yes. (laughs) I also don’t eat figs.
Michael M.: Have you written any poetry?
PreÅ¡eren: When I was five I wrote a little poem. After that — nope.
Michael M.: How will you be spending your namesake holiday?
PreÅ¡eren: I’ll be working. Just working.
Comments
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Interesting how they chose to celebrate the day of his death, not
birth. Guess that’s because there’s some controversy about when he was
born, not because Slovenes have some morbid fascination with death. I
remember singing Zdravljica with a Slovene choir back in the late
1980s, before it became the national anthem. Is there anything
significant about the fact that Slovenes chose a drinking song as their
national anthem? Just asking.
I’ve always been baffled by the celebration of his death, too. Also: Is there any other country that has a holiday dedicated to a poet? I can’t imagine a Walt Whitman Day in the U.S. or Goethe Day in Germany. Does anyone know if other countries have something similar to PreÅ¡eren Day?
"Is there any other country that has a holiday dedicated to a poet?"Good
question. Moreover, Slovenia’s tendency to pay homage to poets goes
beyond dedicating holidays to them–schools, streets, squares, etc.
(not to mention libraires and cultural centers) are more likely to be
named after literary/cultural figures than political figures/presidents
(with an occasional partisan hero or tank brigade thrown in–I used to
live on ulica 1. tankovske brigade in Sezana, and there’s a street
named after the local partisan hero Mirko Pirc, who also happens to be
my daughter’s grandfather). I’ve always meant to devote a session or
two of my high school English classes to doing a cross-cultural
comparison of place (=street/school) names. Osnovna sola Srecka
Kosovela vs. Hoover Elementary, Trubarjeva/Cankarjeva etc. ulica
vs Washington/Jefferson etc. Avenue…
As i have heard the reason why we celebrate his death not his birth
is, beacuse he was born in december and there are already enough
holidays in december so the goverment decided to do this in february
instead.And yes, we have quite a tradition of stupid goverments :D
Does anyone know if other countries have something similar to Prešeren Day?
If I understand correctly, they have a “Burns night” or something of that sort in Scotland.
Is there anything significant about the fact that Slovenes chose a drinking song as their national anthem? Just asking.
I don’t think so. After all, officially, it’s only the seventh stanza that is the national anthem, not the whole song, and that stanza hasn’t got much to do with drinking. I’d say that the fact that the poem is structured as a toast is just a minor detail — what matters (and what has made the song popular) is the set of ideas it promotes. Having a good time over a cup of wine with one’s friends is one of these ideas; patriotism is another one; and the one that is perhaps the most valuable from a modern perspective, and that has actually made it into the anthem, is the idea of peaceful coexistence of nations.
As for why the day of PreÅ¡eren’s death rather than birth has been used for the holiday, one story I’ve heard (I have absolutely no idea if it’s true or not) is that the decision was made by the emerging partisan authorities during the WW2, when at a certain moment they had to choose between waiting almost the whole year till next December 3 (or is it December 4?), or waiting a month or two till the next February 8, so they chose the latter option. But as I’ve said, I’ve no idea if this story is true or not.
Frankly, I don’t see why people make so much fuss over the fact that the holiday happens to be the anniversary of his death rather than birth. First of all, it doesn’t really make any damn difference whatsoever. Surely what matters is that the man’s work is occasionally enjoyed, not that it’s done on one particular day rather than another one. Secondly, why should the date of birth be inherently preferred to the date of death? When he was born, it was the birth of a mewling puking infant; when he died, it was the death of a really fine poet; why should the former necessarily be preferred to the latter? Besides, it’s not like a holiday is automatically a celebration — we aren’t celebrating his death, as some people seem to imply when they delight in pointing out this supposed absurdity of having the holiday on the day of his death rather than birth. A holiday is about commemoration, about remembering. Death and birth serve this purpose equally fine.
Besides, I personally never think of this holiday as “PreÅ¡eren day”; nor do I have the impression that this is the term by which the holiday is usually referred to. I much prefer the other official term for this holiday — the day of Slovenian culture, or perhaps (even more inclusively) the Slovenian day of culture. That’s what really matters — culture in general — not just this or that particular individual artist (no matter how great he was). Placing too much emphasis and focus on Preseren leads to fetishization among some people and to abhorrence among others, and both mean that people are missing the point.
ill-advised: emerging partisan authorities during the WW2, when at a certain moment
they had to choose…
I
have read somewhere about that as well. I remember also reading that
such decision was made because of the massing concentrations of Nazis
in late 1944, and subsequent offensive on liberated areas; so it was no
time for a holiday. So they could wait another year for next december
or pick the date of his death. (Some historian should verify this!)
Nowadays his birth is celebrated too, it is the so called
‘ta veseli’ (joyous) Day of Culture in contrast to todays ‘ta slovesni’
(solemn) Day of Culture. Happy Holiday to all.
Don’t fret though, his birthday, December 3, is "Ta veseli dan kulture" or "This Joyous Day of Culture" when theatres, galleries and museums don’t chrage entrance fees. It’s not a work-free day like February 8 though, which as far as I know is the only European (proper) holiday dedicated to a poet.And about naming streets about cultural personalities, well, Slovenia hasn’t had much of a military history except for the 20th century (but 2 out of 3 of those conflicts we fought for other countries) and all but WW2 are not really "present" on our streets. But I guess were we not in Yugoslavia for the next 45 years after WW2, there wouldn’t be that much streets named after partisans either..
Michael, one again you amaze me! I totally failed to notice your previous interwievs on February 8th, so this one took me completely by surprise
Bravo! On the issue of celebrating the guy’s death: I’m not sure about the "too-many-holidays-in-december" argument. I guess it’s a combination of the fact that he wrote of death and suffering often, the fact that he did his best poems close to his death and simply the fact that we are a somewhat morbid nation 
My family came from Scotland, as did many of the other families in the town where I grew up. Burns’ birthday (which may or may not have actually been January 25th) was widely celebrated there on Jan 25th with a Robbie Burns supper, complete with haggis (presented while reading "Ode to a Haggis", of course) and good whisky. It’s true: many Scots don’t need much of an excuse for the wee dram, but we do love Robbie Burns.The Haggis is another matter entirely. But for our dear and cherished Robbie, we would happily chow down on that oozing, earthy-tasting, wildly unattractive grey-ish brown-ish stuff. (*nostalgic sigh*)While Jan 25th was not a national holiday, nor even an official local holiday, the aforementioned festivities (read "large amounts of whisky") made January 26th another matter entirely. Let’s just say that more than one person unofficially recognized Robbie Burns by taking that day off from work.@ill-advised: When he was born, it was the birth of a mewling puking infant; when he died, it was the death of a really fine poet; why should the former necessarily be preferred to the latter? This may go down in history as one of my favorite sentences. :o)
Time to mention that wonderful quote about Preseren again:
“…[I]n Slovenia the Tito personality cult is seriously rivaled by that of the early 19th-century poet-patriot France Preseren, who to Slovenes is Shakespeare, Burns, Bolivar, Dante and Joan-of-Arc rolled into one.�
– John Ardagh, A Tale of Five Cities: Life in Europe Today, 1979
I know Russians celebrate "PuÅ¡kin’s Day".I’m just guessing, but it is possible that PreÅ¡eren’s Day was in fact invented as a carbon copy of this Russian (Soviet?) festivity. If I remember correctly, it was first addopted in 1945, when we were still at war. Why the day he died and not his birthday (Russians celebrate PuÅ¡kin’s birthday)? I don’t know. But I do guess the Catholic subconscious played a bad joke on our Communist "kulturniki", as it did so many times (since the Catholic Church celebrates a Saint according to the day of his death).
OK, now I see the thing was already submitted to debate. And a historian authority was called upon. I don’t know, but I think Kocbek’s diaries could solve that mystery, too (I have read only a very small portion of them, though). My guess is that it went something like this:Vidmar: "Listen, Pavle, do you know what day is next week?"Kocbek: "No, Jozula, … Carnival already."Vidmar: "Don’t be silly, Palve. It’s February, the 8th"Kocbek: "?"Vidmar (raising his head as a sign of intellectual superiority): "I am surprised you don’t know, Pavle. It is the day PreÅ¡eren passed away."Kocbek: "Really?"Vidmar: "Indeed. Since there is nothing to do around here, why don’t we go to KidriÄ? and say to him that we should celebrate that."Kocbek (extatic): "Yes, Jozula, yes! I’m sure he’ll love it. His daddy studied PreÅ¡eren all his life. Let’s go!"And KidriÄ? grounched something of an approval and we got the "slovenski kulturni praznik".
No doubt the guy’s a genius. How he put "Sonetni Venec" together is beyond comprehension… it seems almost beyond human. It’s a portrayal of almost god-like perfection. Every word, every rhyme, every subtle metaphore is exactly where it should be… just perfect. Than on the other hand he was horrible as a human being - an elitist, misogynist (well that one came with the territory, I guess), drunken social misfit… totally incapable of succesfully integrating into the society he lived in. But so ridiculously talented that it hardly mattered. I’m glad he became an icon he deserves to be.
As you can notice, the "Catholic subconsciousness" sneaks in between the sentences "It is the day PreÅ¡eren passed away" and "We should celebrate that", remaining active during Kocbek’s extatic reaction and persisting in KidriÄ?’s approval.
It’s obvious that I checked out this site when the debate already ended. So I can deliver my thoughts on everybody’s comments:Streets named after poets? Hah, what’s that in comparison to military units named by poets and writers: "Cankarjev batalijon", "Kosovelova brigada", GregorÄ?iÄ?eva brigada", "PreÅ¡ernova brigada"… Tell me where else can you find THAT. (Not to mention that GregorÄ?iÄ?, after whom the more-than-predominantly-communist reistance named one of its brigades, was also a priest.)
Two hints:
1. vrhnika.si
»Å½e leta 1944 je hotela skupina ljudi v Beli krajini praznovati
stoletnico Zdravljice, a jih je pregnala nemška ofenziva. Šele v
zadnjem letu vojne, 1945, so lahko neovirano poÄ?astili veliÄ?ino
Franceta PreÅ¡erna.«(Already
in 1944 a group of people in White Carniola wanted to celebrate the
centenary of Zdravljica (The Toast), but couldn’t because of German
offensive. Only in the last year of was, 1945, they could honour the
greatness of France Prešeren without hindrance.)
2. preseren.net1944
Slovenski narodno osvobodilni svet razglasi
8. februar za slovenski kulturni praznik.(Slovene national-liberation council declares 8th of february as Slovene Day of Culture)
…but it seems, first celebration was in 1945.—-
Joyce’s Bloomsday is also famous, but I don’t know if it is a holiday (Wikipedia says it is!).
ill-advised, I too like your post for its point and style! In my eyes you are now a little web prose Prešeren.
Well, thanks for all the praise
Though as far as the sentence that Susan singled out for praise is concerned, I guess I need hardly point out that I had a little help from Mr W.S.…
my mouse was having coniption fits the other day, so this is late,
my family remember a Burns supper thrown by the St. Andrew’s Society in
San Francisco when I was four years old. I got up on a table and
recited all of Tam O’Shanter from memory, thus winning a really nice
old book, a copy of Tam O’Shanter, which is still in my possesion.Hate to say this ‘Bloomsday’ isn’t a a ‘REAL’ holiday.