Outside Cres, Ruta is most familiar for its felted handicrafts, but wool is not the only thing we do.
In addition to wool-related projects, we have added the following annual events to the social life of Cres:
Celebration of the International Women's Day, on Easter we have revived the old tradition of handing out traditional Easter cakes, figs and brandy. We are especially proud of our contribution to the traditional Cres Fair kojega smo iznova pokrenuli
which we have revived after a half a century break, and where we present other original island products and old customs.
We have initiated the organisation of the summer, tourist carnival in 2002 and the organisation of the children's carnival in 2002 and 2003.
The Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship financed the workshops Quality and Design of Felted Slippers in 2004
and Quality and Design of Felted Hats in 2006 though the project "Preservation of the Tradition of Crafts",
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Annual CycleCarnivalCarnival is a strong tradition in Liburnia as it is evidenced by the Rijeka Carnival which is getting bigger and bigger every year. Since all members of Ruta love the Carnival and work on it, we have initiated the organisation of the summer, tourist carnival in 2000, which has also become a tradition. We have also organised a children's carnival in Cres in 2002 and 2003. Wool masks in the picture were made by school children in one of the workshops. |
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International Women's DayWe have organised: |
Nativity SceneThe Nativity scene made by children in felting workshops in 2002 was exhibited in the hall of the building of the town government. We completed them in 2004, expanded them and exhibited them in the Cres outpatient clinic. In 2006 the Scene was put up in the window of the old library at the main square. | To the Top | |
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Napkins
The napkin exhibition was organised upon proposal of our member Snjezana who has been collecting napkins since 1965 — and it turned out that she was not the only one! In addition to the exhibition, there was also the napkin technique workshop.
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SemenjWishing to prevent the old ways, customs and skills from being forgotten, and to promote original and modern island products, Ruta revived a several centuries old tradition in 2003 and revived the tradition of Cres Fair. |
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The first fair in Cres – Seménj – was held in 1244. During the fair, people sang and socialised on the streets and in bars, shopped in shops and on squares, and sold everything that domestic people had made and bred, as well as people from Istria, Rijeka and the entire Kvarner. Out of respect for the holiday of the religion and listening to wishes and needs of people, all the rulers in this area gave up their taxes during the fair. In 1543 Seménj got the Priviledge from Dodge Tiepolo, and it was confirmed in 1830 by Francis Joseph I, thus acknowledging its importance for this area. About twenty households, as well as entrepreneurs and associations from the island, from Cres, Orlec, Lubenice, Vidović, Vrane and Vodica, exhibit on Seménj. They offer olive oil, different kinds of brandy, goat cheese, cakes, bread from the baker's oven, jam, wooden coal, honey, handicrafts, spices and aromatic herbs, salted fish; felting and forging are demonstrate — all accompanied by the sounds of "meh" (bagpipe) and the smell of fried fish. We invited as guests the ceramicist Marija Matišić (Zagreb), Pottery Workshop Gyorek (Varaždin), Gordana Vivoda (Jurdani), ecohousehold "Grandma Lika" (Gospić), Danijela Halužan "Florart HD" (Koprivnica: watches, mirrors, jewellery). "Vani" association - association for discovering creative forces in human beings from Rijeka, Hrvoje Marušić with replicas of old Croatian jewellery, woodworker Dušan Nikolovski from Oprtalj, Marija Mišetić with puppets from lavender, and Željko Juranić, a winemaker from Vrbnik. Seménj traditionally takes place around the holiday of our Lady of the Snows, from 5 to 7 August on the Cons Square from 7 to 12 p.m. In the morning hours, at the association's premises, individual exhibitors organise free creative workshops of their handicrafts. Financial support to the project is provided by the Tourist Board of the Town of Cres, the town of Cres provides the location for the fair, and caterers offer food and drink to our exhibitors. A significant financial support to Seménj was provided in 2005 by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) from the funds of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). |   
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My Nana's UnderwearThe exhibition was put up for the first time in 2005 on the occasion of the Women's Day. The exhibits, about 200 of them, were provided by 35 families. They consisted of underwear, linen, children's underwear, and tablecloths, everything that women from Cres used to prepare as dowry. In addition to this, objects and tools for making underwear were also exhibited: bows, needles, patterns for embroidery, old catalogues, irons etc ... and other antiquities as well. A part of the exhibits was placed in the setting of an old room. A lot of people saw the exhibition, and due to their praise and encouragement to repeat the exhibition, we decided to present this story from the tradition and wealth of Cres to all visitors of the island in the 2006 tourist season. Women from Cres would start sewing their dowry very early. It consisted of six pieces of every piece of clothing, including vests, petticoats, underwear, nightgowns, underskirts, linen, towels, tablecloths and some little things ... They learned from their family, relatives, nuns. The linen was of exceptional quality. It was bought at "Mitis" at the Cres Fair, delivered by ships or bought abroad, in Rijeka, Pola or Trieste, in large quantities. Underwear is of simple style. Its beauty comes from the embroidery, which is always white, often in combination with lace. At the same piece of clothing there are several work techniques which merge into a whole and attract attention with their simple, elevated beauty. Monograms must be small, discrete and simple. In addition to embroidery, crocheting is used for making fine lace around the neck, sleeves, trousers or edge of underwear. Manufactured or factory-made lace was used, always white, transparent and fluttering. Underwear was scoured and cooked in "lušija" (alkalescent) - water was cooked in a cauldron with ashes tied in a cloth in order to whiten the clothes. This exhibition is the beginning of our efforts aimed at creating an ethnological collection for the people of the island which would include ancient objects which still had not been lost. Unfortunately, the city museum still has not opened its door for this purpose, and there isn't any other possibility to visit the old times, except for the tour around the town. When such a collection would exist, maybe many kind people would relieve spiders and bedbugs of their duty and allow the world to derive joy from looking at some other times when a diligent and patient work of human hands had some value and its place under the sun.
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My Wedding
In the hall of the town government building This year, on the occasion of the Women's Day, we have naughtily peeked under the sheets and in the closets of our women. We wished the 8th of March to be full of … love, passion and memories … |
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The exhibition of wedding dresses and wedding memorabilia is intended to bring back the time for a second when each and every one of us was the only star in the sky. In a dress made of dreams, under a transparent veil like a princess from a fairytale, she felt as "the one, the only one and the most beautiful in the world". When she was the shiniest spark of a flame that turned on the light of a new path. While memories are emerging as if days and years have not passed, as if it wasn't a new century" Some suppressed joys and forgotten passions have been revived through the collection of memories … And, as the verse says:
When the eternity passes along a path of stars It might be said that the majority of inhabitants of Cres visited the exhibition that day. The media were also present. There were 93 participants with their exhibits out of which 70 were wedding dresses. The total of 25 volunteers helped with the organisation | To the Top | |
