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Aug 94 min read

Shepherding in Iliašovce

by Michael J. Kopanic, Jr., University of Maryland Global Campus



When visiting Slovakia in June 2018, I came across a modern-day shepherd who is still tending sheep in the traditional manner. The event was not planned but just happened spontaneously, making it all the more intriguing. But it rang home, because my grandfather, Anton Kopaničák, had also been a shepherd.


I was visiting my distant relatives in Harichovce, which lies just a kilometer north of Spišská Nova Ves. This is the village of my paternal grandmother, Julianna Kovalčiková. There she had met my grandfather, who had just returned from serving four years in the Austro-Hungarian cavalry. Although born in the village of Ruskinovce, he had found a job around 1902 as a shepherd that was advertised in a newspaper. He would tend to sheep and/or cattle in nearby Levočská Luka, just north of Harichovce. He probably stayed with his father’s cousin, Samuel Kopaničák who had moved to Harichovce. Samuel was the grandfather of my distant cousin, Mária (née Kopaničáková), who had married Emil Grondžák, a tailor who hailed from Iliašovce.



During a visit in early June 2018, Emil suggested that we visit Iliašovce and enjoy a picnic lunch at nearby Sans Souci, a site 2 km away that had a restored chapel that dates back to 1775.


Many Germans had settled in Iliašovce (Spernsdorf, in German) after the Mongol invasions of the 13th century and it would become a free Saxon town in the 15th century. The village’s Latin name, Villa Ursi (meaning Villa of Bears), testifies to the fact that its residents helped their lords and accompanied them there to hunt bears.


By the 16th century, the village had become a property of the lords of Spiš Castle, the Csáky family. During the 18th century, Count István Csáky (1741 – 1810) and his wife, Countess Júlia Erdődy, chose Iliašovce as his summer residence. Having studied French in Vienna and inspired by the French Enlightenment, he decided in 1765 to locate it on a hill above the village with a panorama view of the High Tatra Mountains. He constructed an elaborate garden and park with all sorts of amusements, which he called Sans Souci – which in French means a place with no worries or cares. There they could relax, read books, and discuss ideas. Their goal was “to revive the idyllic golden age of poets and to create a shelter for philosophy, beautiful art, peace and freedom.” It was to rival the grand Sans Souci summerhouse constructed by Frederick the Great in Potsdam, Prussia.


It was supposed to last a thousand years, but financial problems and marital disputes led a decline of the estate. Count Csáky had many of the buildings torn down and sold off the furnishings at auction. All that remains is a restored chapel, a well, the foundation of a former building that is being excavated, and a monumental obelisk commemorating what once was a grand manor and park. Today it is small clearing surrounded by forest and some picnic tables for visitors. When Iliašovce sponsors a foot race, the participants run up to Sans Souci as part of their course.



While visiting the Sans Souci site, a shepherd with a flock of sheep came upon us and we had a friendly conversation with him. He spoke with a strong Spiš dialect. The shepherd was humbly dressed in a plaid shirt, army fatigue trousers, and black boots. He used a walking stick and wore a backpack. Accompanying him was his trusty black dog that kept the sheep together and prevented them from wandering too far off in the woods. The shepherd told us that he worked this job from the spring until the fall so the sheep could graze on fresh grasslands. He earned only 500 euros a month in 2018, about $550, well below the average wage in Slovakia. But he had no living expenses there and ate well. At night, he slept in a shepherd’s hut and his well-trained dogs watched the flock. He would go home just once a month to visit his family. The profession seemed like one more suitable for a single non-married man.



The shepherd then moved on as the sheep searched for fresh grass and greener pastures. Subsequently, with my zoom lens camera I took photos of the shepherd’s hut, which was a small mobile dwelling, a storage shack, a sheep corral, and the general picturesque setting. Apparently, he had only taken part of his flock with him. More sheep were fenced in the corral and a large white sheepdog ensured that predators did not attack the sheep while the master was away grazing the other half of the flock.



The sheep belong to Farma nad ihriskom (The Farm above the playground) in Iliašovce. The farm has a store which sells syr, žinčica, bryndza (cheese, sheep's whey, sheep’s cheese), and other products such as lamb meat (jahňacina). The shepherd’s place is called Salaš pod tisícročnou kaplnkou (The shepherd's shack under the thousand-year-old chapel). One may view the store and the winter home of the sheep at the Facebook website listed in the sources below.


The long tradition of shepherding continues to this day in Iliašovce and other places in Slovakia. It is the reason that Slovakia continues to have some of the finest cheeses in Europe.


 

Sources


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