Croatian descendants celebrate Tamburitza festival in Cokeburg
Derek Hohn, center, and other members of the Croatian Fraternal Union Lodge 354 in Cokeburg welcome travelers from Ontario, Canada, with shots of plum brandy, meats and cheeses and salt and bread – for good luck.
Marlene Luketich Kochis, director of the St. George adult Taburitzans, leads her group through traditional Croatian songs in a daylong festival that hosted 11 music groups from around the country and Canada.
COKEBURG – There were no Easter eggs, but there was booze and bread greeting Croatian-Canadians traveling from Ontario as soon as they stepped off their bus.
“The plum brandy, it’s a wish to good luck” said Derek Hohn, 32, who was waiting outside the bus Saturday with shots of alcohol, meats, cheeses and the humble offering of bread and salt.
“The bread is a holdover of culture reminding us that we all didn’t have that much; some still don’t,” said Marlene Luketich Kochis, Hohn’s mother and director of the St. George adult Tamburitzans. Kochis helped organize the 24th annual daylong celebration with Croatian Fraternal Union Lodge 354 in Cokeburg.
The Ontario natives traveled farthest among 11 other Tamburitzan musical groups who had come for a celebration of music, food and culture. Tamburitza is the family of stringed instruments used in traditional Croatian music. The casual setting called for blue jeans and polos, not the gold-twine vests and full regalia Kochis and her band wear for festivals.
“This is to ring in spring. It’s relaxed. Everyone plays for half an hour then goes downstairs and plays some more. That’s when the real party starts,” Kochis said.
The songs, with their trill-filled sustain, encouraged everyone in the audience to sing along.
“These songs strike people in their heart. They know and love these songs,” Kochis said.
The 18-hour affair employed the help of Kochis’ sons – Hohn and Marko Kochis – both of whom tended bar and played music.
“I grew up behind this bar. And now I help with the junior musicians,” Hohn said.
“I’ve broken bones here. I’ve done everything here,” Marko Kochis, 23, said.
Cokeburg becomes a “Croatian metropolis” this time of year, Marlene Kochis said, and traveling is also part of the cultural tradition.
“For festivals, we go anywhere. I was just in Detroit. Everyone’s looking for their roots, and we’re able to teach our kids without them leaving the country. Cokeburg’s hills – they’re just like where our parents grew up in the homeland. And Detroit and Pittsburgh, these were the places where Croatians settled because of steel and other industries they were involved in as immigrants,” Marlene Kochis said.
“Events like these keep families close, because it’s something no one else has. If Marko or Derek were in trouble in any city in the country, they could look up their extended family and they would help them,” Kochis said.