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Bloke (Municipality, Slovenia)

Municipal flag of Bloke, horizontal and vertical versions - Images by Željko Heimer, 19 February 2005

Presentation of Bloke
Municipal flag of Bloke
Coat of arms of Bloke
Rejected proposals of flag and arms

See also:

Presentation of Bloke

The municipality of Bloke (1,643 inhabitants in 2008; 7,510 ha) is located on a karstic plateau of Upper Carniola, in southern Slovenia.

The skiers of Bloke, probably the oldest in Slovenia, were described by the famous Slovene erudite Valvasor (1641-1693) in his "Glory of the Duchy of Carniola" (1689).
On a government website (page no longer online), Dušan Cater presents Bloke as "the cradle of ski in central Europe", as follows:

J.V. Valvasor (1641-1693) the first really well-known Slovene scientist, reveals the fact that skis were already familiar to the Slovene people in his day. In 1689 he wrote in his famous work "The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola":
"The peasants of Upper Carniola know of a rare invention of the sort I had never seen anywhere else: in wintertime, when the snow is plentiful, they descend into the valley with incredible speed. For that purpose they take two strips of wood, each a quarter of an inch thick, half a foot wide, and some five feet long. At the front the wooden strips are bent upward; in the middle there are leather straps to put the feet into. One such strip of wood is strapped under each foot. On top of this, the peasants take a stout cudgel into their hands push it under their armpit, bend backward, and use it as if it were some sort of a rudder to slide off, or even fly down the steepest slopes ... no less swift than those who use skates in Holland to glide on ice".

Indeed, Valvasor has thus described one of the truly great Slovene curiosities which are known even nowadays as the skis of Bloke.
Bloke plateau, situated 43 kilometres south-east of Ljubljana lends its name to the so-called Bloke climate. Strong winds and long, rainy winters are typical of it along with continental and alpine elements. These conditions forced people to use skis because this was the only way to travel down to the valley.
There are many theories about the origin of Bloke skis. But since it is known that the first skis in the world come from Korea, the suggestion that skiing was invented in Bloke is simply untrue. The most likely explanation is that Bloke skis are part of the old Slav heritage, which implies that skis were introduced in Slovenia by old Slavs in approximately the year 600 AD.

Bloke skis are one of the most important aspects of Slovene culture. They were usually made from pieces of beech wood, which were 130 to 180 centimetres long. The edges were skimmed and a "stirrup" made from string, wire or leather was used as a binding. The bindings were pushed through holes on the ski or nailed onto the sides. Skiers adjusted the stirrups according to their shoes and they were fastened in front of the ski's centre of the gravity. That meant they were weighted at the back which was essential for the cross-country skiing method. This way skis served as a mode of transport when there was lots of snow. To go down the hill skiers used a stick, which they put under their armpit and used to stear and brake.
But people from Bloke also had fun on their skis. Various games and competitions were organised. The biggest celebration of them all was Halloween Tuesday, the holiday of all "skaters" as everybody called the skiers. The people in Bloke believed skating and jumping a lot on this day would improve the harvest of buckwheat, turnip and flax.
Skiing started to die out in Bloke after the First World War, when modern sport skiing started to develop in Slovenia. The Italian occupation of these areas during the Second World War killed off Bloke's old ski culture because the enemy confiscated all skis.

It is interesting that skiing did not spread from the plateau during that time even though skis were used for all functions which demanded movement - including funerals. Longer and shorter skis, kept by one family in the village, were used to transfer the coffin. They also knew games and races which suggests that their skiing was the start of sport skiing.
Apart from that skiing in Bloke did not influence the development of skiing today in Slovenia. But it did have a huge publicity effect and it is one reason that modern skiing is so popular in Slovenia.

Ivan Sache, 7 April 2009

Municipal flag of Bloke

The flag and arms of Bloke are prescribed by Decision Odlok o grbu in zastavi Občine Bloke, adopted on 15 December 2004, and published in the official Slovene gazette Uradni list Republike Slovenije 5/2005 on 17 January 2005.

The symbols were designed by Valt Jurečič of Heraldika d.o.o. and Heraldica Slovenica, who kindly provided drawings from which the images shown on this page were made.

The flag is rectangular, in proportions 2:5, vertically divided blue-white-blue, the white field being square and charged with the skier from the coat of arms.
The emblem is prescribed to be at least 2/3 and at most 8/10 of the hoist size. It is described as a man dressed in black with black boots and hat, leaning on a golden staff in his right hand and walking on golden skis.

Željko Heimer, 19 February 2005

Coat of arms of Bloke

Coat of arms of Bloke - Image by Željko Heimer, 19 February 2005

The coat of arms of Bloke is "Argent a skier clead sable on skies or with a staff of the same and the chief embowed azure".
The coat of arms is based on an old emblem of Bloke that appears already in Valvasor's armorial (17th century), showing a man on skis. The skier is known as the skier of Stara Ves.

Željko Heimer, 25 December 2005

Rejected proposal of flag and arms

Rejected flag proposal, horizontal and vertical versions - Images by Ivan Sache, 10 April 2009

Stanič & Jakopič [j2s05] show a proposal of coat of arms also designed by Valt Jurečič, very similar to the adopted coat of arms. The white fied is sloped as well as the skier is skiing down diagonally towards dexter bottom, the skis being red and the staff he is using being held diagonally in bend; there is also a fir tree at the top of the slope.

On 1 July 2004, Notranjslo-kraške novice published an article on the proposed symbols of Bloke. It appears that, following complaints by the inhabitants about early proposals, Mayor Jože Doles appointed Valt Jurečič to draft the municipal symbols.
Among the problems with the first proposals mentioned by the article is that the people felt that the proposed skier did not look like a Bloke man, although apparently nobody knows how an actual skier from Bloke looked like. There was, of course, no prescribed costume to wear, and everyone used what he had. People were irritated that the Valt's original skier looked like a fashion model, with his clothes "as if it had just been taken from the dry cleaners".

Željko Heimer & Ivan Sache, 10 April 2009