The new edition of the historic festival “Roman Days in Mokro,” which brings to life an authentic spirit of ancient times through a rich interactive, gastronomic, and engaging program, begins on August 1, Saturday, in Mokro near Široki Brijeg, opening doors to visitors across the region.
The two-day event offers content distributed across more than 50 different thematic zones to visitors of all ages.
The main novelty of this year’s edition is the impressive Roman fortress covering an area of 200 square meters, with defensive towers, legionary guards, and a gladiator arena, which attracts great attention from the audience. There, with already familiar members of Diocletian’s Legion from Split, professional gladiators from the Bulgarian Association “Ludus Traex” will be performing for the first time.
The visitors have a chance to meet with ancient skills and crafts through a series of educational workshops.
In the “Falconry School”, the Eurasian eagle-owl and Harris’s hawk were presented with education about ancient hunting, while in the “Basketry Workshop”, participants craft baskets from willow rods.
The art lovers tried stone sculpture carving under the mentorship of the academic sculptor Josip Ivešić, and in the archery zone, instructors teach the basics of handling an ancient bow and arrow.
“The Family Zone” takes a special place where the youngest visitors enjoy wooden carousels, creative workshops such as painting wooden swords, and more than 30 ancient games distributed across the festival area.
The gastronomic segment of the festival is also rich. The “Legionary Food Zone” offers 12 meals prepared according to authentic Roman recipes.
Also, fresh fruits and vegetables, and refreshing beverages inspired by Roman provinces from Italy to Illyricum, Hispania, and Pannonia are also served.
With the display of Roman history, the festival pays tribute to the pre-Roman inhabitants of this area – Illyrians. The program “The Night of Illyrian Bonfires” revives the memory of Illyrian tribes with fire acrobatic performances and the lighting of signal beacons on the Mokriskik hillfort, which concludes the presentation of the native inhabitants’ defense tradition.
Today, the festival opens its doors from 3:00 p.m., when most of the workshops start, and the main program starts at 7:00 p.m.
The organizers advise visitors to arrive at least by 6:00 p.m. due to large crowds, Federalna writes.
