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Wallachia

Moravian Wallachia (Czech: Valassko) is a mountainous region in the south-east corner of Moravia about the size of Luxembourg. The region is called Wallachia and the people are called Wallachians (Valasi). It was settled over many centuries by migrating Romanian shepherds called 'Vlachs', herding their sheep westwards along the mighty Carpathian mountain range. Moravian Wallachia, an ethnographic region demarcated in particular by the Moravian-Silesian Beskydy Mountains and the Vsetín Hills, was colonized in the 13th and the 14th centuries by Wallachians, shepherds coming from Romania. Their culture blended with the lifestyles and customs of the original population of the local valleys.

modern day scholars have now agreed on this group of people and their migratory routes from southern Romania. Some scholars pointed to the existence of the principality of Wallachia in Romania, found several Romanian words in the Wallachian dialect and traced methods of sheep breeding in the mountains paralel to those in Wallachia, others argued on the basis of the settlement of the region, considering the language and specific features of the Wallachian culture to be a Slav archaism.

The first settlers of present-day Wallachia made their homes in the river valleys. This happened mainly in the 13th and 14th centuries. Peasants of Slavic ethnic found their new home there, though Roznov was founded in 1267 by the Olomouc Bishop Bruno of Schaumburg. He was German and founded many other villages.

In the 16th century, we meet other people in the Moravian mountains near the Slovakian border. They did not come from the fertile valleys but from the neighbouring Carpathian ranges. During the "Wallachian colonization" they brought numerous flocks of shaggy wool sheep which were able to stand the rough mountain climate very well, in addition a very tasty cheese was made of their milk, called Wallachian Parmesan according to the records of the 16th century bishop´s court. These new settlers were known throughout the Carpathians as Wallachians. They were mixed very soon with the native people. They had a marked influence on the way of life, culture and language, contributed to a decisive measure to the specific folk culture of this region of east Moravia which finally was named after them.

The characteristic feature of Moravian Wallachia is scattered mountain farmsteads with wooden buildings and small churches. Built from wood, the local cottages contain a room with an oven and fireplace. Over the course of centuries the range of traditional activities, such as Alpine dairy farming, the cultivation of resistant varieties of crops and fruit growing, was expanded to include canvas manufacturing and embroidery. Apart from this the distillation of plum brandy and gin boasts a long tradition here. The basic dishes of the Wallachian diet include "kyselica" (potato soup with milk), "kontrabás" (sausages with sauerkraut, buckwheat and potatoes) and "frgále" (cakes). The difficult living conditions were reflected, among other things, in the local clothing. In contrast to other regions of Moravia, the Wallachians could not afford sumptuous costumes; their "rubáse" (shirts) are mostly graced with delicate embroidery. The integral part of Wallachian culture is music and songs sung to the accompaniment of dulcimer, violin or pipes. Visitors to the Open-air Museum of Rural Architecture in Roznov will find that the folklore and architectural heritage of Moravian Wallachia is still very much alive.

The Wallachian Kingdom - which has its own passports and currency - started as a practical joke, but soon grew into the most successful tourist venture in the country. Almost 90,000 people now own a Wallachian passport, and 10,000 or so are well on their way to becoming fully-fledged Wallachian citizens. Just what is the Wallachian Kingdom? Is it a practical joke, created for no other reason than having fun? Or is a tourist project, set up to make money? Well it's both of those things, and, confusingly, it's in a real historical region of the same name.