On September 19th, 2009, the Festival of Rusyn Culture was held in the Goral (Highland) town of Spišská Stará Ves as a part of the project “Encounter of Seven Cultures of the Slovak-Polish Border”. The event was organised by the town of Spišská Stará Ves and the Euroregión Tatry Association. The festival was aimed at promotion of Rusyn national minority in Slovakia and in Poland, its customs, traditions and culture.
The festival programme started with a presentation of Rusyn cuisine and folk groups dressed in exquisite traditional costumes marching through the town. This was followed by a cultural programme, taking place on an open-air stage, where the following Rusyn acts from the Polish-Slovak border area in the Lemko region performed: Barvinok from Kamienka, Jastrabčan from Šarišské Jastrabie, Ručaj and Vereteno from Gorlice, the singing duo Ivana Sivuľková and Martin Karaš from Kamienka, Júlia Dosna – one of the best Lemko singers, Mikuláš Koneval from Kamienka and Anna Tužaková from Osturňa – reciters of Rusyn poetry, and young talented people from Kamienka, Šarišské Jastrabie and Osturňa, as well as the local dancing group Magurka. The performers in the dynamic three-hour long programme, directed by Martin Karaš from Kamienka, presented traditions of Rusyns who live in the border area between Slovakia and Poland. As the finale to this abundant presentation of the Rusyn culture, our popular PUĽS professional folk group gave a perfectly rehearsed performance.
The festival was organised by the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Traditions of Minorities Living in the Area of the Polish-Slovak Border. And with regard to the Rusyn minority in the Magura region, we can safely say that the goal of the festival was fulfilled.