This year’s gathering brought together around 400 participants, mostly Croats from the Bačka region, who through this traditional event held in January or early February keep alive the memory of former winter village gatherings marked by singing, conversation and handicrafts practised by earlier generations of ethnic Croats.
The President of the Croat National Council (HNV), Jasna Vojnić, praised the organisers, emphasising that the Croat Cultural Centre "Bunjevačko kolo" and its Veliko Prelo event play an important role in preserving the cultural identity of Croats in Vojvodina.
She also announced that she would advocate finding a new, suitable building for this largest Croatian cultural association in Serbia, which has been operating for decades in old and dilapidated premises.
The guest of honour at the event, Milan Bošnjak, envoy of the Central State Office for Croats Outside the Republic of Croatia, assessed that the preservation of the heritage of ethnic Croats in Vojvodina is particularly valuable in light of the challenges facing the community, and expressed concern about the future of the Croatian kindergarten in Tavankut.
In a statement to the media in Croatian in Vojvodina, he said that Croatia would keep this issue at the top of the list of open questions in relations with Serbia.
The first Veliko Prelo of the Bunjevci Croats was held in 1879, and despite several interruptions, the tradition of its organisation has been preserved to this day.
It originated from winter gatherings on farmsteads (salaši) in northern Bačka, which at the end of the 19th century a group of Bunjevac intellectuals and priests transferred into the public sphere, giving them an organised and representative character.