Magical locations of Kranjska Gora

Advent time is the most magical time of the year. The places are festively decorated, thousands of lights are lit everywhere, and a new candle is lit every Sunday on Advent wreaths.

We also have a large Advent wreath in the Alpine village in the center of Kranjska Gora. The wreath with four candles symbolizes the cycle of life, the four seasons, the four milestones in the Christian faith and the four sides of the sky. Did you know that each candle carries a special message and meaning?

The first candle symbolizes hope and expectation, the second candle signifies peace while the third candle celebrates joy and happiness, the last fourth candle, which we lit last Sunday, brings love into homes. Every year we lovingly organized Advent concerts in the Alpine Village, the local providers served you with a smile with home-made delicacies and the air smelled of cinnamon. This year, the Alpine Village is covered in a thick blanket of snow, which warms the hearts of walkers instead of the sounds of Slovenian musicians’ guitars.

The thousand of lights also invites for a walk through the magical Viharnik Garden in Mojstrana, which has been arranged  for many years by the local Stane Brus. In the garden there is a fairy-tale wooden house and a wooden bivouac, in the latter there are mountain cribs on display, which carry a very special story. According to the author’s idea, they are set the way life used to be in Mojstrana.

In the squares of our municipality there are several Christmas trees or as we call them in Gorenjska drəvésc or. drəvéščkov. Spruce and evergreen twigs symbolize life force and eternity, further emphasizing the Christmas message. Placing New Year’s tree was a rather unknown custom in Carniola region, most of them were set up by German officials and officers in their homes. The first public Christmas tree was placed on the Dragon Bridge in Ljubljana only in 1845.

A much older custom in Slovenia is the custom of setting up cribs. These were first erected in the Jesuit Church of St. Jakob in Ljubljana in 1644. At first they were set up only in churches, only a century later they began to be set up in homes, initially in bourgeois homes and later also in homes in rural areas. Live nativity came into being a little over a decade ago. The idea for a theatrical performance with the Christmas story Living Nativity Scene in Ice was developed by local Pavel Skumavc. Last year, they staged the 18th theatrical performance of The Live Nativity Scene in the Icy Kingdom in a row. The peculiarity of these performances is that the entire scene of the Mlačca gorge, where these performances take place, is in ice. Players perform in crampons under twenty-five-foot icy waterfalls. There will be no theatrical performance of The Live Nativity Scene in the Icy Kingdom this year for all known reasons. However, the Mlačca gorge is already covered in ice. Paul created a real icy kingdom this year due to suitably low temperatures and snow. The reflection of lights in the ice creates a magical atmosphere in the gorge where just about any visitor can become the king or queen of the Icy Kingdom for a moment.

They created a unique ambience by placing various trees and evergreens in Jasna at the Jasna Chalet Resort. In order to preserve the ancient ancestral tradition for our descendants. With a special ear for landscape architecture with which they follow the Slovenian “gartlc” so-called peasant garden in front of the house, which was typical of our area, they placed the Jerebike tree on the embankment of Lake Jasna, which traditionally protects the door to the spiritual world from all evil. In the vicinity of Jasna Chalet Resort you will be able to get to know a thistle or a god’s tree. In Christianity, the thorns on the leaves represent the Passion of Christ, and the red fruits the gifts of the three holy kings. The thorn later became a symbol of well-being and contentment in the new year. And that is exactly what we wish you in the year to come in abundance!