Colors of Vis Island - traditions, festivals, mentality and lifestyle

While communicating with Croats, remember that it is not customed to give refusals here. You will hardly hear «no» from the local inhabitants. But don’t be so happy if you have agreed upon something with local inhabitants. There is a chance that your agreement won’t be fulfilled, Croats love to say «tomorrow». However, it is very profitable for them. Croats don’t like to give a direct refusal, so their favourite «tomorrow» drifts into «never». So remember that a sense of duty is not inherent to them. It is just their peculiarity. It is easier for Croats to promise something than to do things and refuse.

Vis is filled with relaxed atmosphere and laziness. A hairdresser can discuss philosophical questions with her friend during the working process. A taxi driver can talk on the phone while driving. A shop assistant can talk with her friend in the workplace. However, even if a taxi driver is talking on the phone while driving a car, he will take you to the right place. A relaxed hairdresser will make a perfect hair cut and a shop assistant will sell you the most suitable clothes. Nobody knows why Croats are people of contradictions but it is the fact.

Most of the locals treat tourists with cold European courtesy. It is obvious because tourists bring a lot of money to the country. Locals provide high service to the foreigners, but they will never tolerate rudeness and go beyond the official duties. Local inhabitants don’t like when anybody enters their private territory. If you have accidentally come to someone’s private land, a nice and polite local can be rude with you. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

One more interesting Croatian peculiarity is that locals will never tell tourists that they break rules or don’t follow some traditions or customs. If you are going to visit a reserved territory or private land, nobody will hint at the need for getting permission to enter there. That’s why you can be caught unawares when an angry owner of the private property will find you at his territory. But sometimes you can visit different places without being noticed. Pay your attention to the signs on the streets. You can get a fine for walking in a bikini in some of the settlements. However, if there are no signs, try to look modest. Croats are conservative people and they think that people should wear bikini only on a beach.

Croats are patriots and they love their homeland. Most of the locals keep traditional costumes at home. They wear the costumes on national holidays. During the festivals, you can see a large number of locals in national costumes dancing traditional dances. Yet folk music and dances are not only popular during different holidays, but some of the songs are also more popular than modern music.

Local women are quite emancipated in Croatia. Despite the fact that there are many women who left the career for the family, some of them are successful in their job. Most of the women dominate in their families, but men can hardly accept that. Local men, by the way, like to flirt with girls and women. They are even not embarrassed by the presence of their girlfriend. However, they will just pay a couple of compliments, nothing serious. Corzo is a local tradition which has its roots in Italian culture. At night small streets of local settlements are full of nicely dressed families, couples and happy people, who spend their time chatting and enjoying wonderful Croatian evenings.