EN: Pupnat is a little village in the interior eastern part of the island of Korcula, about 12 km west of the town of Korcula with population about 500 people, and it is the smallest village on the island. There is not much going on here during summertime, almost nobody on the street, only a couple of locals gather in a town café in the evening, to gossip. That’s all from social life in Pupnat, so you could imagine what it’s like in the winter.
But, just for one day in the year, everything changes. But let’s go a little back in history.
Legend says that many years ago, it was snowing here on August 5th. It is the middle of the summer, so this was an extremely strange phenomenon. At that time, people were very religious and a bit superstitious, so they interpreted this as a “sign”, so they chose the “Madonna of Snow” (Gospa od Sniga) to be the protector of their village, and erected a church dedicated to her.
So, every year, on August 5th, the whole village celebrates this holiday, “Madonna of Snow”. There’s singing, there’s dancing, there’s music, there is a performance of a local sword dance called “Kumpanija”. During this performance, it was a customary ritual to decapitate an ox (if possible, with only one blow of the sword), followed by the feasting of its meat by the villagers.
After 1945, the Socialist government banned this tradition, which was revived in 1995 as a cultural tradition. But, many animal rights groups described it as barbaric, and started a campaign to end this bloodshed. As a consequence, the last live beheading was held in 1999, after which was completely abandoned, and today exists only in symbolic form, with bull procured from the butcher and spit roasted for guests of the day.
Some people say, that ghosts of decapitated oxes wander around without their heads during the night, and scare innocent tourists.
(well, not really, but with all the oxes massacred during the years, who can be sure?) 
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HR: Pupnat je selo u unutrašnjosti istočnog dijela otoka Korčule, oko 12 km zapadno od samog grada Korčule. S populacijom od oko 500 ljudi, to je najmanje mjesto na otoku. Ovdje se ne događa bogznašto tijekom ljeta, gotovo nikoga nema na ulici, samo nekoliko mještana okupljenih u lokalnom kafiću u večernjim satima, na trač-partiju. I to je sve iz Pupnatskog društvenog života, pa sad možete zamisliti kako je ovdje zimi.
No, samo jedan dan u godini, sve se mijenja. Vratimo se malo u povijest.
Legenda kaže da je prije mnogo godina ovdje 5. kolovoza pao snijeg. Kako je to sredina ljeta, ovo je bio izuzetno čudan fenomen. U to vrijeme ljudi su bili iznimno religiozni i pomalo praznovjerni, i cijelu tu pojavu su protumačili kao "znak", pa su izabrali “Gospu od Sniga” za zaštitnicu njihovog sela, te izgradili crkva posvećenu Gospi.
Povodom toga, svake godine 5. kolovoza cijelo selo slavi blagdan, "Gospa od Sniga". Tu se pjeva, tu se pleše, tu je muzika, a tu je i izvedba lokalnog mačevalačkog plesa "Kumpanija". Tijekom ovog programa, bio je uobičajeni ritual odrubiti glavu vola (ako je moguće, samo jednim udarcem mača), nakon čega je slijedilo pečenje tog istog vola, te gozba za mještane.
Nakon 1945., socijalistička vlada je zabranila tu tradiciju, koja je opet uvedena 1995. kao dio kulturne tradicije. No, mnoge grupe za zaštitu prava životinja su ga prozvale barbarskim, te započele kampanju za kraj ovog krvoprolića. Posljednje odsijecanje volovske glave održano je 1999., nakon čega je u potpunosti zabranjeno, a danas stvar postoji samo u simboličkom obliku, tj. vol se nabavlja od mesara i na ražnju ispeče za goste proslave.
Neki ljudi kažu, da duhovi žrtvovanih volova noću lutaju okolo bez glave, te plaše nevine turiste.
(dobro, ne baš, ali sa svim obezglavljenim volovima tijekom godina, tko može biti siguran?)
