Slovene quintain

Slovene quintain (Slovene: štehvanje, German: Kufenstechen) is a traditional Slovene mounted folk game, a form of jousting, that has been preserved in the southern Austrian state of Carinthia. It is held during Kirchweih festivals in the lower Gail Valley, where it has become a major tourist attraction. The štehvanje competition has also taken place every year in Savlje, Ljubljana and sometimes in neighboring villages since the 1930s.

It is commonly believed that štehvanje is the rustic form of a Roman knight game called quintain. It originated in conjunction with medieval tournaments, local blessings and Pentecostal games. It may have come from the Upper Italian Friuli and Istria regions, where it was popular in the 18th century. Carters brought this game with them as they traveled from Trieste to Vienna, passing Udine and Tarvisio.

The Slovene name derives from the German word stechen 'to stab', which indicates that in the beginning players stabbed a barrel with a long iron pole. However, because the pole was never sharp enough to stick into a wooden barrel, riders began to use an iron bat (Količ).

In 1804 Archduke John of Austria mentioned a Kufenstechen tournament he had witnessed in Sankt Stefan im Gailtal. The game has been present in the villages of Ljubljansko Posavje (Ježica, Savlje, Kleče, Stožice and Mala Vas) since 1935, when ethnomusicologist France Marolt presented this custom at a folklore festival in Ljubljana. The exercises were held under the leadership of Janko Zwitter from Achomitz (Slovene: Zahomec) in the Gail Valley.

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