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The Ride of the Kings
Visit Vlčnov in south-east Moravia to see
the spectacular Ride of the Kings on 24 – 26 May!
The Ride of the Kings is an old Moravian folk festival
included since 2011 on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural
Heritage List. For at least two hundred years, the village
of Vlčnov in south-east Moravia (Moravian Slovakia)
has hosted the ceremony on the last weekend
of May. During the festival, eighteen-year-old youths
clad in traditional costumes ride on horses adorned
with ribbons and stylised flowers. They accompany
the “King”, a young boy, usually eleven years of age,
dressed in a girl’s costume and with a rose in his
mouth, since he cannot speak throughout the ride.
The horse, embellished by the King’s mother and led
by his father, is accompanied by two young men with
unsheathed swords. It is a great honour, as well as
obligation, for the family whose boy is selected to be
the King. The procession passes through the village
and the royal entourage ask people for gifts for the
ruler. The preparations for the Ride of the Kings last
for at least six months and plenty of people participate
in them, preparing the roses and costumes, baking
confectionary, etc. The festival, which takes place over
three days, is accompanied by a traditional village fair,
folk performances, brass- and cimbalom-band concerts,
as well as exhibitions on themes pertaining to
the region of Moravia.
The origin of the Ride of the Kings is unclear. The tradition
may be related to ancient royal ceremonies or seasonal
religious rituals. Another theory has it that it was
inspired by a legend according to which the Hungarian
i
Prague
Joža Uprka (1861 – 1940)
Joža Uprka was a Moravian painter and graphic
artist of European renown, a representative of Romantic
Historicism and Art Nouveau whose mature
works can be compared with those of the finest
French post-Impressionists. He was born in 1861
into the family of the peasant and amateur painter
Jan Uprka, and his younger brother František was
a famous sculptor. Joža Uprka studied in Prague
and Munich, as well as in Paris. He created the bulk
of his work in his native Moravia, where he was inspired
by themes from common people’s everyday
life, depicting their labour and customs, including
national costumes. In 1894, his painting Pouť
u svatého Antonínka (displayed under the title Les
pélérins slovaques (de Moravie) devant l’église)
received an honourable mention at the Salon
des artistes français in Paris. Uprka’s best-known
picture is the magnificent Jízda králů (Ride of the
Kings), created in 1897 in two versions –realistic
and Impressionist. When in 1902 the celebrated
French sculptor Auguste Rodin visited Moravia,
Joža Uprka was introduced to him as the most
distinguished local artist.
King Mathew Corvin and his retinue were fleeing from
the Czech King Jiří of Poděbrady and so as not to be recognised
he disguised himself in a woman’s dress, veiled
his face with ribbons and put a rose in his mouth.
Besides Vlčnov, the Ride of the Kings is traditionally
held in another three villages in south-east Moravia:
Kunovice, Hluk and Skoronice. Yet the festival in Vlčnov
is the most popular, owing in large part to the Moravian
painter Joža Uprka’s famous picture The Ride of the
Kings (1897).
www . jizdakralu.cz