A traditional holiday, celebrating St. Gregory (Gregory the Great), he passed away on March 12th 604. An immensely respected Pope, a scolar and the man behind Gregorian Chants. St. Gregory is the patron saint to students, teachers and musicians.
In many towns and villages in Slovenia the day was regarded as the beginning of Spring time. The so called “spring works” would start at about this time. Since the day was getting longer and longer, lunch would be brought to the man working on the fields, the reason being that the time between breakfast and dinner was getting too long.
in the black smithing and shoe-making towns and villages of the Upper Carniola (Kropa, Kamna Gorica, Tržič, Železniki) there was a special tradition, that was kept alive until present time. The most common name is “Luč u vodo”, literary meaning: “Light in the water”.IS is a celebration of the day getting longer allowing the craftsmen to work at day light, forgetting the unpleasant winter time when especialy the shoemakers had to work in bad light conditions.the people of the village would gather at dusk on March 11th and put small improvised “floats” in to the streams of water that run trough the place (driving the water wheels in the past). The design was limited only by ones imagination and it would vary from one village to the other. From simple wooden planks to more elaborate designs. With the later they would build imitations of local churches or other important buildings. In the past the “floats” would be left to burn at the end, in modern times the owners usualy have them on a string, allowing them to be used another year.