Slovenians at Home and Away
7.7.2017 | Fiona Thompson
At Slovenia Estates, we get to meet a lot of people who are not from Slovenia but who move here for a work assignment, retire or just to enjoy living in this beautiful country. But we also meet people who moved away in the past, or who have family roots in Slovenia and come “home” to explore them.
This weekend sees the seventh annual meeting of Slovenians living abroad; this year the event is being held at Rakičan Mansion, near Murska Sobota in eastern Slovenia. The event is organised by the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad and this year it aims, amongst other things, to highlight the potential of the Pomurska region as a tourism destination.
Each year one of the key parts of the event is to share how Slovenians abroad keep their culture alive or present it to the people in the countries they have moved to. So far for 2017, more than 310 performers from all over the world have said they’ll attend the event.
As well as the protected Slovene minorities in neighbouring Italy, Austria and Hungary, there are Slovenians living all over the world. The largest population of Slovenians outside Slovenia is in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States. There are also fairly significant numbers of Slovene people in Canada and Argentina.
The Slovene community in Cleveland does a lot to celebrate Slovenian heritage: the city has Slovenian restaurants and even has an annual Kurentovanje celebration in February. You can even take Slovene language classes at the University of Cleveland!
Slovenians coming home to attend this year’s get-together can look forward to a tour of the Pomurska region and traditional Slovenian cuisine. We’re sure they’re going to have a fantastic time!