The scythe competition on Mt. Rajac is held on the first Sunday after St. Peter's Day (15th July) and dates from old times, the year 1892, when the first folk festival was held here.
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Since 1965 "Mowing on Rajac" has become a well-known tourist event, so that Mt. Rajac, dubbed the Serbian beauty, is most often associated among domestic and foreign visitors by this folk festival.
Mowing on Rajac traditionally marks the end of hard and tiresome work in this cattle breeding and picturesque region. Once it was a chance for scythesmen to meet and hang about, to find work, and for girls to flirt with a good looking lad. |
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Hence it is no wonder that sharpening the scythes for the competition has become a small ritual – a whetstone from the belt pouch in the hands of farm labourers glides along shining steel and the bare blade fl ashes in the sun.
It is noon. The procession moves towards the mowing ground. At the head are water carriers, usually beautiful country maidens in folk costumes carrying jugs with water. After them goes the proud host of the scythe competition – 'djidlija', and behind him the line of scythesmen in white skirts, with straw hats and sharp scythes with wooden snaths. "You do not lend you scythe, gun or woman", says a proverb.
Every year, more and more people visit the scythe competition on Mt. Rajac, so that their number has reached tens of thousands. Last year, there were 40,000 visitors, from the youngest to the oldest, wearing traditional Serbian costumes, to reapers with turned caps.
The festival begins when a group of singers comes to marked squares, from where they cheer on their favourite:
"Hey mowers, where is our bee,
Whether it's Rajac or Good Water …"
The event includes the show and competition. At the show they vote for the next 'djidlija' – the scythesman who will be host at next year's competition – and they choose the most beautiful water carrier. After the most beautiful water carrier and a new host are chosen, the finals start, the competition for the golden scythe. After the exclamation "Now!" the scythesmen in white begin their unique dance. Speed, width and the quality of the swath is then judged and graded.
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The public roars with cheers. On the meadow one can see only fl ashes of steel while grass falls in stacks and one can hear only the whizzing of scythes, sounds heard only in this place. After mowing, the vote for the winner begins. There can only be one winner. Some twenty of the best scythesmen squeeze wooden snaths while waiting for the judges' decision. Now everything stands still and only the July air trembles above the stiff , withered, last grass. |
After the winner is voted there follows the scythesmen lunch on the meadow, accompanied by the sound of a brass band. The festivity lasts while night slowly falls on Rajac. The spirit of old times is in the air, the spirit of the bee is preserved and the still evening, without the sound of wind, calmly sets on the mountain.
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The scythe tournament on Rajac has an international character; scythesmen from Great Britain, Iceland, Romania, Russia, Holland and Hungary have participated … Every year, the best scythesmen from Republika Srpska and Montenegro participate as well.
Singers dressed in folk costumes from neighboring villages participate in this popular tourist event; the lunch off er consists of traditional Serbian dishes served on kilims and on white sheets. |
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Rajac is located 100 km from Belgrade and 12 kilometers from the town of Ljig. The mountain's altitude is between 600 and 849 meters. The climate is mild, and the average temperature in August is about 20 degrees centigrade.
Rajac is characterized by biologic diversity. Certain kinds of vegetation grow along the valleys and on the slopes, while other kinds grow on hillsides. Tall vegetation can be found high in the mountain and the meadows of Rajac are covered by a great number of medicinal herbs. The mountain is well known by a number of historical events, of which the legendary one is the Battle of Kolubara from World War One. | | 
