Saint James’s Day marks the start of an annual event in Slovenia with the raising of klopotci. A klopotec is a wooden wind-rattle, and for the vinogradniki of Slovenia, it’s a guardian of the vineyard. The wind spins the windmill like arms, leading to wooden blocks getting struck and making a racket. The noise is the point.
The grapes are ripening on the vine and a target for birds. The idea is the rhythm of the drumming acts to scare them away from the grapes. In reality, the rhythm makes the sound predictable and so birds have probably habituated to it. The klopotci are supposed to be taken after the vintage, by All Saints and at the latest by Martinmas, on November 11, though the grapes won’t need all that time.
Farmers keep a careful eye on the grapes, and the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Maribor keeps records. Records for north-east Slovenia show that grapes have ripened around a month earlier since the 1980s. If the pull-down date for klopotci had advanced in a similar way, they’d come down around the start of October. But the cultural tradition has not tracked with the season, leaving the klopotci banging their hammers over harvested vines.
How to Play
Six plants fill each row
each column, each box of six
no bloom may repeat
Tap an empty cell
then choose your plant from below
watch the garden grow
Or pick a plant first
then tap the cells where it goes
faster hands plant more
Red borders will warn
when two alike share a line
rethink and replant
Ticked plants rest complete
all six placed in rightful soil
fewer choices left
The clock starts to run
the moment your first plant falls
how swift is your hand?
Select a plant, then tap cells
Two ways to play: Tap an empty cell then pick a plant, or select a plant below then tap cells to place it.
Cover image: Eleassar, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
