The story
Goral Festival Ždiar in Ždiar
The Goral Festival in Zdiar, known locally as Goralske folklorne slavnosti, brings Slovak and Polish dance ensembles together to present the dances, songs, and customs of the Goral highlander people. Zdiar sits between the Belianske Tatry and Spisska Magura mountains near the Polish border, in a village where the local Goral dialect is still spoken by essentially the entire adult population.
Zdiar sits in a distinctive cultural pocket of northern Slovakia, wedged between the Belianske Tatry mountains and the Spisska Magura range, just three kilometers from the Polish border, in a village of roughly 1,330 residents where essentially every adult still speaks the local Goral dialect and roughly half the children do as well.