Velké Bílovice - Magic in the territory of Hanácké Slovácko

Legend has it that the village was established by refugees from the settlement of Trkmanice destroyed during Hussite wars. A tax levied on vineyards, so-called ‘perknecht,’, is mentioned for the first time in 1446. The local viticulture was influenced during the 16th century by Moravian Anabaptists called ‘habání’. Their common cellar by the road to Čejkovice is currently owned by the ‘Habánské Sklepy’ company. Viticulture here suffered a deadly blow in the 17th century: while in other parts of Moravia, about half the vineyards were destroyed, in Bílovice it was 90%.  The sound development of viticulture in the 18th century had only one failing – traditional customers were lost after the Seven Year’s War when Silesia was taken over by the Prussians. Even in the 19th century, people were very superstitious: in 1863, the function of storm charmer is recorded in the village. His name was Jan Kegr. When an enlightened citizen, Václav Lebloch, established a meteorological station in his house, the locals suspected him of practising some form of magic. Wine here has always been of high quality. There is a record from the middle of the 19th century which states more than 3 florins were charged for wine from Bílovice, while less than 2 were charged for wines from other places. In 1923, Pavel Osička established Vinářská Besídka, a first attempt to practise viticulture on a scientific basis. Great frosts in 1929 necessitated a vast renovation of vineyards – just in 1931 alone, 120,000 new young plants were planted in the territory of Velké Bílovice. After World War II and collectivization, the area of the vineyards grew, thanks to the construction of terraces – in 1981, the state farm nursery with an area of 10 hectares produced 425,300 young plants. At that time, the pattern of varieties in the settlement was as follows: Blauer Portigieser – 25%, Saint Laurent – 21%, Welschriesling – 18%, Müller-Thurgau – 16%. Among the traditional happenings, the most popular festival is the Feast of Velké Bílovice – at that time, crowds of tourists arrive to enjoy the unique magic of youth dancing in folk costumes under the traditional mast erected in the square. The town, whose vine tracks in past times were the most numerous, has kept this position and it is at the moment the settlement with the largest vineyard area (803 hectares) in the Czech Republic. The town, together with settlements of Čejkovice and Mutěnice, makes up a wine micro-region called Vitis.  

Rich mythology and legends related to Belegrady

Vineyard tracks are located on the hillside of Dyjskomoravská Heights (Dyjskomoravská Pahorkatina). Originally there were twenty eight of them. Later they were consolidated, at the request of vintners, into seven: Přední Hora, Zadní Hora, Dlouhá Hora, Široká Hora, Pod Belegrady, Nová Hora, Vinohrádky, Sklepní Areál. They include 650 mostly residential multi-storey pressing houses. The locality is separated from the town by the brook Bílovický Potok and is composed of three sections (Půrynky, Pod Předníma and the best known, Belegrady) that have in places almost merged with other residential houses. The wine cycling trail of Velké Pavlovice leads from the local cellars in Belegrady in between vineyards towards the mythical hill of Hradištěk. The hill, overgrown with steppe flora and dominated by a chapel sanctified in the names of St Wenceslas, St Urban and St Cyril and Methodius, offers a panoramic view of the wine region under the Pálava Highlands. Legend has it that witches’ gatherings used to take place on the spot in the Middle Ages – on Walpurgis night even now, you will encounter fires and witches. In the middle of the 18th century, there were only 4 peasants' cellars and 6 cellars belonging to free citizens here. Fifty years later, there were already 30 cellars. In the second half of the 19th century, the complex grew to three horseshoe-shaped rows. Belegrady has its own pub and a sports facility called Chřástelka. Almost half the cellars are turned towards the street with their sloping roofs, a rarity which intensifies the feeling that this is a real, separate village. At the beginning of the 1940s, the construction of New Belegrady along the road to Čejkovice started. Because of the times, it was nicknamed ‘Hitler Strasse’. “The 1970s had a negative impact on the look of cellars in Velké Bílovice. Over a 10-year period, many cellars were built without any concept, based entirely on the creativity of the locals. A wine building influenced by the socialist realism style,” comments local citizen Pavel Zemánek on the construction of cellars from that time. Within a vineyard, the traditional right of frejunk was applicable (the right of asylum for endangered persons): whoever tried to enter the vineyard in order to follow a hunted person was executed. Abuse of Frejunk was punished with an arm being cut off. Also rows were banned according to the viticulture law with a fine of 10 Groschen; a fistfight in the vineyard might even be punished by death. Viticulture courts of justice used to take place twice a year, on the day of St George (March) and on the day of St Lawrence (August).  In the 1920s, a local teacher made the following entry into the chronicle: “Earlier there was more merrymaking (that is to say, in the cellars) – there used to be more wine and farmers spent most of their lives in cellars – they could stay there for two or three consecutive days – they would have a nap in the hay, and after they had brought a piece of meat and bread from home, they would take a seat and go on drinking as much as they liked. Nowadays, people talk politics in the cellars and everybody is acting like a smart alec. Educational meetings held to educate farmers in agriculture are poorly attended – it might be better to hold these meetings by the cellars themselves. (...) Farmers wander around and end up in the cellars in the end.”     

The tradition to have meetings in cellars on the day of St Stephen (26 December), when the year-long labour has ended has survived to present times. In summer, cellars are not frequented much since most time is spent in the vineyards. In olden days, there was no wine in cellars at this time of the year.

There is no evidence that St Urban, a patron of vintners commonly revered elsewhere, was worshipped here. Even though this cult was limited to areas with a German-speaking population, decorating with tasteless statuettes of this saint was a very common practise. There was a legend of a princely cellar buried under the ground in a field under Belegrad, but this legend was refuted by excavations executed in 1928. Another superstition is connected to forecasting the grape harvest: at the Nativity day mass, vintners would look towards the altar to see whether the sun would shine on the chalice with wine raised by the priest – this would mean a fertile year”. An educational trail leads through the vineyards in Bílovice paralleling the Velké Pavlovice cycle route. There are several information boards along this trail concerning viticulture, vineyards and wine festivities. It was created in 2005. Besides being enlightening, this trail also presents an opportunity for repose.

Spring wine wandering (March or April)

Local exhibition of wines (March)

Singing for joy (July)

Singing at Belegrady (August)

Initiation of the mountain (on the day of St Bartholomew)

Feast with the erection of the traditional pole (September)

Little Feast (fourteen days after the Feast)

Celebration of wine (27. 12.)