Ride of the Kings has been added to UNESCO's heritage list

Prague/Bali, Indonesia, Nov 27 (CTK) - The traditional yearly Ride of the Kings folklore festival in south-east Moravia has been entered in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list, the Czech Culture Ministry informed CTK yesterday.

The decision was made by the UNESCO inter-government committee in Bali.

The committee was assessing 84 cultural traditions from the whole world.

The famous folk Ride of the Kings is held in Hluk, Kunovice, Vlcnov and Skoronice, all in the Slovacko region.

According to some it originated in the pagan times when young boys were competing in putting the cattle out to grass and the best became king.

Other ethnographers explain the origin by the flight of Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus from Czech King George of Podebrady in the 15th century. Not to betray his identity with his appearance and speech, Corvinus dressed in a women's folk costume and put a rose in his mouth.

The folk festival is colourful and it is accompanied by folk music. It is a great honour for the boy who is chosen to play the role of the king. It takes a long time to prepare for the role and it costs the family much money.

The Czech Republic has been striving for the Ride of the Kings being entered in the UNESCO heritage list for several years.

People from all places that keep the traditional of the Ride of the Kings alive were happy about its listing.

The first written mention of the habit dates back to 1808, but it is probably even older.

Vlcnov mayor Jan Pijacek told CTK that the municipality is not preparing any wild celebrations.

"We must approach the listing with humbleness," he said.

Antonin Pavelcik, from Vlcnov, who has been linked with the tradition for some 50 years, told CTK the problem is that the municipality has fewer and fewer boys while the main figure of the ride is a boy aged 10 to 12.

Kunovice mayor Ivana Majickova told CTK it will now be important "to succeed in keeping the tradition. A lot of work is ahead of us," she said.

Skoronice is preparing for building a Ride of the Kings museum. The village has the oldest photograph of the ride from 1896.

The Ride of the Kings is not the first Czech tradition on the UNESCO list. The Slovacko folk dance of military recruits "verbunk," that originated in the 18th century, was entered in the list in 2005.

The Shrovetide processions with masks in the region of Hlinsko, east Bohemia, and falconry, whose roots go back to the 9th century Great Moravia empire, were entered last year.

Besides traditions, 12 Czech sights have entered the list of UNESCO tangible world cultural heritage. Most recently it was the Jewish Town and St Procopius Basilica in Trebic, south Moravia, listed in 2003.