๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐๐ was a poetic and immersive walk โ part myth, part ecological ritual. At its heart was the Vodnik (or Vodyanoy), a water spirit from Slavic folklore, guardian of lakes and rivers, sometimes mischievous, sometimes vengeful. In this performance, he had disappeared, angered by the world of humans โ and who could blame him?
On 25 October, participants gathered at 10:30 a.m. in the main square of Rajec, Slovakia, to take part in a poetic and musical walk in nature on Oak Mountain. The journey unfolded as a walking conference within the Transitioning Landscapes programme, overlooking the town of Rajec, and became a shared, collective moment celebrating trees, birdsong and water.
As the walk progressed, myth blended with landscape and listening became an act of attention. The weather proved as unpredictable as the spirit of the Vodnik himself, reinforcing the sense of immersion and reminding participants of natureโs shifting moods. Prepared for change, they moved together through the terrain, carrying the story with them โ a temporary ritual rooted in place, memory and the fragile relationship between humans and their environment.
W๐ฆโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฆโฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บโ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฌ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ โ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ !
– Rara Woulib
