Motto: Order, work and maybe discipline!
Interests: traditional heritage, culture, folklore, art, teaching, writing, singing, travelling, dance.
About me: My name is Maja and I was born in 1985. I am married and have two beautiful children, a girl and a boy. I finished primary and secondary school in Đakovo, after which I graduated from the Faculty of Education in Osijek. Later on, I passed the supplemental exams and obtained a master’s degree in special education and rehabilitation. I work at J. A. Ćolnić Primary School in Đakovo. Over the years, I have tried a lot of things. I played handball in primary school. During that period, I started a children’s radio show called “Žuta Minuta”, which aired on Radio Đakovo for a few years.
In high school, my love for tradition prevailed, so I joined the “Tena” cultural and artistic society. The time spent with Tena brought me a lot of things – I learned to dance and sing, travelled across half of Europe and outside of Europe, met a lot of interesting and nice people and eventually got married. During my folklore years, I formed a female vocal group called “Đakovčanke” with a group of friends. After ten years of active dancing in Tena, I said goodbye to the ensemble “Slavonske Kraljice” and continued dancing with seniors.
During college, I tried running a folklore group for the first time, first at M. Cepelić Primary School in Vuka and later at the “Zora” cultural and artistic society from Piškorevci, where I stayed for ten years. Ever since then, I have been doing field studies and collecting material related to the traditional heritage of our region. I completed a series of seminars titled “Children’s Folklore Creativity and Its Application in Working with Children”, organised by Goran Knežević, a famous choreographer. I am currently running a folklore group at the primary school where I work and I have been carrying out projects related to traditional culture on a regular basis. I am the co-author of “Zavičajni priručnik Osječko-baranjske županije”, a handbook about Osijek-Baranja County for lower-grade primary school children published by Školska Knjiga. I am also a member of the Folklore Committee of the Đakovo Embroidery Festival in charge of Children’s Pageant (art and literary competition, educational workshops and Heritage for Our Children festival).
Finally, I am especially proud of becharusha, a small business that I manage together with my friend Dajana, which is turning into a real small brand based on products inspired by traditional heritage. Becharusha has become a great love of mine, my freedom, inspiration, art therapy and escape from everyday life.
I am not that active on private networks, but if you would like to find out more, check out becharusha because that is the real me.
Follow: Maja Nikačević