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The Holy grail of Dalmatian hinterland - Bukara
Wine, that mythical potion, the liquid of truth, the cure for soul and body. Of course, if You drink it in normal amounts. Wine has been given importance for thousands of years, like no other liquid in the world. Throughout history people have been drinking wine from golden jugs, crystal glasses, amber and pearl vessels. Emperors and kings, billionaires and the poor, the sick for medicine, the rich for debauchery, everybody has been drinking it. The vine is his mother, the sun is his father, and it is the only liquid in the world which has both heart and soul.
Here, we bring you a word or two about the vessel from which wine is mostly drunk in the Dalmatian hinterland. It is a Bukara, the main wooden vessel of every village house. It had a status in both the rich and the poor. It was mostly made of spruce, but also from walnut wood, hornbeam tree and ash tree. Since always, only and exclusively Bukara was made by the hands of masters, self-taught artists. Not everyone knew how to make a good Bukara. People had to be gifted for producing Dalmatian Holy Grail. The main part of Bukara had to be made from the same wood. The handle and the hoop around it can be made of different wood or sometimes the loop was even made out of iron. Even today, there is no house in any rural area of Dalmatia that does not have one or more Bukara`s.
People used to say, a long time ago, the size of a bukara is also measured by the amount of wine you have in the tavern. That is why today you can find smaller and larger Bukara`s in Dalmatia. Standard has always been a Bukara that can fit a liter of wine. You might ask yourself, is Bukara leaking as it is made out of wood, well no, no Bukara has ever leaked.
Bukara has its own rules, or special way of drinking from it. First, you should never drink alone, and once you gather your favourite group of people, Bukara becomes something like a joint. You fill it with wine and send it from mouth to mouth, so each person around the table gets a sip, and even though it's strange, nobody in the history of Bukara got some kind of anomaly on the lips. Never!
... therefore it was, it is and it will remain to be the cult vessel of every house in Dalmatian hinterland. Unfortunately, today in some only as a souvenir, but still in many Dalmatian villages Bukara still serves its purpose. So if you are traveling to Dalmatia, Bukara is your new number one souvenir.
