The Slavic god of harvesting, wine, vineyards and sweet fruits Rujimir, and his wife Rujana, goddess of fertility and viticulture, were the inspiration for the first creative cooperation of neighborhood organizations in Zagreb's Zvonimir Street 17. Together with the Foundation "A Common Way" that works with third-age people, we organized a music-culinary-literary workshop in which the traditions of our ancients were presented in a new and inventive way. The common theme was art and entertainment, and as the workshop took place in the fall wine, vineyard and song were the main motives. The aim was to present traditions related to the viticulture culture to the younger generations. The European dimension of the project is evident in the pan - European nature of the heritage, the transfer of knowledge and experience to the younger generations, intergenerational solidarity and the role of tradition in promoting common European values.

When the theme was announced we started to think what to do with it and how. We wanted something different from our usually cultural program which are organising festivals and classical education workshop. We also wanted to do something together with all our neighbours in the building. The idea of art and fun ended up to be perfect for this collaboration. We gathered all our future partners and brainstorm begun. As we are geographically situated in North West part of the country were we have hills, vineyards and a lot of people still producing their own wine the idea was to put all that knowledge, experience and memories together. We worked as organisers, our neighbours were working with elderly people so we just needed some youngsters to pass the tradition on. Or just to spend some time together telling stories and singing old songs about wine, fun and life. The Slavic god of harvesting, wine, vineyards and sweet fruits Rujimir, and his wife Rujana, goddess of fertility and viticulture, were the inspiration for the title. We agreed on the form of workshop. It was divided in 3 themes, with 3 different leaders and on 2 floors of the building. On the 3rd floor singing old songs and learning how to sing them together in a way that male vocal assembles did in the past was the main task. On the 2nd floor a great old lady was telling her recipe and showing how to made traditional cake called buhtlini. All ladies there talked about it and exchanged their knowledge and experience. At the end they were preparing the cake to be taken on the 3 rd floor for all participants to eat them. At the end, young teacher started to talk about vineyards, hard work and wine asking the participants to share their stories. The workshop ended with „open singing“, eating buhtlini and telling stories together.

Being part of the Europe and her cultural heritage Croatia shows trough her own local traditions. Inspiration for this workshop came from pan-European heritage of Slavic mythology and especially with motifs like harvesting, wine, vineyards, fertility and viticulture. Local communities were always close to natural resources that kept them alive and well so they tried to put that own, personal experience and feelings of gratitude into songs, stories, rituals. If we put together European inhabitants that live in the same kind of area, we could spot similarities and connections. This way these local traditions are presented and shared trough Europe. At the same time, we can see knowledge and skills transition from older generation to the younger one which is very important these days when people are not communicating to each other as they use to. We are facing situations where is necessary to use tradition and culture to bring people together, make them feel a part of larger community giving them tools to share and learn. By presenting one’s own tradition in line with human right to express themselves, social inclusion and intergenerational solidarity we are promoting common European values.