Royal Customs and Festivals with Kings in the Podhorácko Region (western Moravia)

The theme of Whitsun king rides has not yet been studied from the perspective of the entire western-Moravian region of Podhorácko. This is primarily due to the early disappearance of the tradition by the end of the nineteenth century and the delayed interest in local ethnography. Recently, renewed attention has been drawn to the revived Ride of the Kings festival in Ketkovice - the only event of its kind currently held in the region. Thanks to the care of the local municipal authority and the Podhorácko Ensemble of Ketkovice, the ride was recently nominated for inscription on the List of Intangible Elements of Traditional Folk Culture of the South Moravian Region. The motivation of those involved consisted in safeguarding this long-standing festival for future generations. Our treatise aims to place the Nomination File, primarily describing the current state of the element, into a broader spatial and time context.