Rantah’s kozolec from Vrh

Rantah’s kozolec (hayrack) stood on a meadow by the field belonging to a middle sized farm in the village Vrh. It was erected in the first half of the 20th century and was used for storing hay and keeping the wagons parked under it dry. It was initially a single cloaked kozolec, but later the “tail” (extension at the back) was taken down for being too damaged. In the Land of Hayracks it is set up as a “goat” kozolec, or “cvitar”. The roof of Rantah’s kozolec was initially thatched and later covered in concrete roofing. Orlove skupine (Eagle groups) which gathered information about the area in 1961 documented a “goat” kozolec with a thatched roof. The farm was once big, but it was later divided into two parts and had two separate kozolca.

Rantah’s kozolec was used for drying kohlrabi greens for the pigs, clover, and different grain: wheat, rye, millet, flax, and buckwheat. The grain was hung on the kozolec with a “passer”, a pitchfork like utensil for moving the sheaves of grain.

Because lightning and hale were the main dangers on a farm in the past, evergreen garlands were blessed on Palm Sunday and hung under the roof. “I pushed them under the roof and the rafters. Our biggest fears were lightning and hale. And when thunder roars I throw them on the fire. My mother taught me that, get used to it and don’t stop doing it, she used to say. I go from roof to roof for Christmas and New Year’s, to bless them, so we’re lucky and nothing bad happens.”

Children didn’t play on the kozolec often, as it was too far. However, while on shepherding duty, they would hide under the wheelbarrow and watch the cows graze. In the summer, they swam in the Bistrica River. Rantah’s kozolec is 3.8 m wide, 8.8 m long, and 4.5 m tall.