SLOVENIA'S 5 CORE VALUES

She cooks, sews, fishes, gardens, moistens vegetables, works out, makes macramé, draws mandalas, collects old branches in the forest and makes cabinets out of them ... It's not that it's not ... But one fine day, Dora falls asleep. There has been too much activity and Dora's body needs rest. So Dora lies down for a few days, feverish, and then her fingers start to itch. And what should the always active Dora do now?

Dora calls her friend Mojca and tells her in one breath what she will do when she is cured. But in the end, she realises that what she is most worried about is what to do now, at this moment, when she can't fly around all the time, and she can't lie in bed all the time. Half jokingly, she finally gives it away: "Ma, the best thing to do is to just start stuttering."

Mojca immediately thinks of her mother, a former passionate staple, who is now a bit on the older side and has poorer eyesight. Her fingers don't obey her as well as they used to, but she probably still has the props!

Mojca knows her friend Dora very well and is convinced that she will take up quilting. So she immediately calls her mother and the action begins. Dora said this half-jokingly about the stitching, but the devil took the joke (read: Mojca's mother took the joke!) Hmm, maybe the result of all this will be a beautiful scarf? From joke to joke.☺

My mother goes through all the cupboards and drawers. She remembers all the things she has scribbled. In winter, her little Mojčka always walked around in her handmade woolen, colour-coordinated outfits. Her favourite set was the pink one: scarf, hat and leggings in bright pink. There was no hero who could have missed her on foggy winter mornings.

But this time, Mojca's mother no longer finds any bright pink wool in her hidden wool stash (luckily for Dora), but she does find quite a large supply of wool balls of various colours. And to complete the bounty, she also finds a book on the bookshelf Two left, two right - the real knitting handbook!

With what joy Mojca rushes to Dora and gives her an introductory stitch kit - a skein of wool and a knitting manual. Ha! To make the surprise even greater and to give Dora even more to do, let me also tell you that Dora is from France and is intensively learning Slovenian, and the knitting manual is, of course, in Slovenian. So the surprise prepared by Mojca's mother has killed two birds with one stone; Dora will learn to stitch, and she will improve her Slovenian language skills in the process! 

At the same time, it is a demonstration, how important it is to support each other in good times and bad. And how we can show, even through small acts, how we belong to and are proud of Slovenia, and how we are happy to nurture and spread our beautiful Slovene language.

Mojca Guzelj, 22 Jul 2025