THE ART OF DRYSTONE-WALL CONSTRUCTION

The most widespread of these phenomena is the art of drystone-wall construction. Drystone walls are dominant features of the aspiring Geopark. The art of dry wall construction (construction without any binder) in the narrow sense refers to masonry with cut stone with a minimum of treatment, or with no treatment at all, and in the more general sense this can also refer to stone-paving processes, stone roofing, construction of engineered buildings with carved stone without the use of binder, and the construction of gabion cages. The inhabitants of the Adriatic and the Dinaric part of Croatia have used drystone-wall construction since prehistoric times. 

 

THE ART OF THE PREPARATION OF GRAPE MUST CAKE

Furthermore, there is also the art of the preparation of grape must cake, locally known as kumpet or ćupter. The cake’s regional popularity points to the great significance of wine-growing in the local economy. The grape must cake is found under various names across Croatia: kumpet on the coast of Makarske, mantala on the Pelješac Peninsula, the city of Konavle and the wider Dubrovnik area, and ćupter in Imotski and Vrgorac. Radical changes in the ways of life over the course of the 20th century had as a result the abandonment of traditional agriculture, and wine is now produced only for a family’s immediate needs, while the traditional preparation of kumpet or ćupter remains alive only among a smaller number of families.

 

OUR LADY’S LAMENT (GOSPIN PLAČ)

Our Lady’s Lament (Gospin plač) is a popular devotional practice and music-making activity of the Lenten period, practiced in most of the villages of the southern, southeastern and northeastern parts of the Imotski region, and in the western part of the Vrgorac region. The peak of the religious ceremonies are the processions on Good Friday. The tradition of kantanje or a sung lamentation is recorded in the following parishes of the southern part of the Imotski region: Zagvozd, Župa Biokovska, Krstatice, Grubine, Drum, Gornje Podbablje, Slivno, Zmijavci, Runovići, Vinjani (Gornji and Donji) and Imotska Poljica. In the Vrgorac region the lamentation is practiced in Biokovo’s hinterland villages of Rašćane, Kozica and Poljica Kozička. As far as the musical style, the kantanje is an archaic vocal music phenomenon in which one of the versions of the words of Our Lady’s Lament are sung.  Most of the lyrics of the lamentations are in octosyllable, and all of the texts have more than 300 couplets. The kantanje usually involves two-part singing, characterized by narrow-interval style.

 

GANGA

Ganga from the Imotski and Vrgorac region is representative of a centuries-old traditional singing technique in the area of the Dalmatian hinterland. Ganga is the multipart singing of long phrases without breathing. As a rule, the lead singer initiates the ganga song with a solo in the first verse (inicij), and in the second verse they are joined by a group of singers who hold out long throaty e vowels or resonant o vowels in order to achieve the perfect fusion of sound.

 

THE MAKARANA CAKE

The traditional cake of Makarska, the Makarana Cake, requires traditional time-consuming methods of preparation, as well as great skills. In addition, its symbolic importance in the local area and to the local identity has landed this cake on the list of Croatia's intangible cultural goods, in accordance with the Act on the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Goods in the Republic of Croatia.