A Very Special Plateau

The open fireplace wrapped the whole room in smoke. In a windowless room, they also soured milk and made butter and cheese.

In spite of the inevitable changes, life on the mountain is still continuing in the ancient tradition. The mountain is run by a pastoral community led by a president who takes care of order, records the number of livestock and organizes joint maintenance work.

Livestock have always been driven to the mountain at the end of June in the early morning. At the head of the herd is a cow with a big bell. Livestock remain on pasture as long as the weather allows, returning to the valley in late August or early September.

A special feature of highland shepherds are wooden clogs braided with larch ribbons and a raincoat made of lime liber.

The traditional pastoral costume was already shown by Hacquet in the first depiction of Triglav in 1789. 

Due to the lack of water on the mountain, they also carried snow in baskets, that was taken from to the karst cave Velika vetrnica - in which the snow remains throughout the summer. A shepherd carried everything he needed to live on the mountain in a basket.

Today, the life on Velika planina has changed substantially. It is important to preserve the disappearing cultural heritage, which includes many tales that describe alleged encounters of shepherds with mythological creatures: wild people, dwarves, white women, wizards and evil spirits.

»It was a beautiful night. The moon shone brightly. The cattle were at the shepherd's hut. I fall asleep without worry. Suddenly, a loud whistle, as if someone was whistling on fingers, waked me from sleep. I got up quickly, stepped out of the hut, I whistled and asked who was there. 

No response! I also heard my bells from down of the Dovja griča. I also heard my bells from down of the Dovja griča. I quickly go after the cattle, catch up with it, and turn it back to the hut. The cattle are frightened, with ears upright, agitated, like being savage. 

With difficulty I push it to the hut. It was the dwarf that drove away the cattle. Well, now I am also causing troubles to the dwarf every night so he can't hurt me anymore. Before I shut the cattle, I step in front of the hut door and with shepherd's staff make a cross over the cattle. I have peace ever since.«

A boy would give a couple of beautifully decorated pieces of trnič to his beloved girl as a promise of love and fidelity.

The former hunting lodge soon became too small for a growing number of skiers. In 1930, Rajko Gregorc from Kamnik was the first to come up with a solution:

»People looked at me in astonishment and shook heads when in the autumn of 1930, I carried in my rucksack to Planina a small iron stove called “gašperček” and flues. The mountain hut was so crowded! Janez Hautež from Sidraž was willing to rent me the hut for 200 dinars in mid-September, when he took the cattle off the mountain.

Hautež’s hut was one of the few that had a window. With my brother Slavko, we stocked with fire wood in the fall, we dried moss and grass to have a more comfortable bed, and nailed planks, paperboard and paper to the walls of the room. It was a colourful but very cosy room… «