Raw Croatia

26/03/2026

A CHILD WHO LEFT HOME… BUT HIS HEART NEVER LEFT CROATIA 🇭🇷

Because of a political situation he couldn’t even understand as a child…
he had to leave his hometown.

A new country.
A new life.
But a heart still tied to where it all began.

He grew up far from Croatia…
but always reaching back to it.

That longing.
That emptiness.
That quiet feeling of missing something that was always his.

It never really goes away.

But not everyone has the courage to face it.

And even fewer turn it into something real.

Through years, that feeling became words.
And those words became songs.

His album is not just music.

It’s what it feels like to miss a homeland you never stopped loving.
To carry Croatia inside you — no matter where life takes you.

That kind of honesty… is rare.
That kind of vulnerability… is strength.

Listen to the album at the link 🎧
https://music.apple.com/au/album/nisu-važne-godine/1869683469

Watch the music video on YouTube 🎥
https://youtu.be/u03cp4GVkN0?si=7jn5TpYBbCzeBFNc

And follow his journey

Tell us what you think in the comments 👇

22/03/2026

22/03/2026

From Plitvice Lakes National Park 💦
to the glowing Blue Cave 🔵

to the ancient, cliff-clinging village of Lubenice 🏝️

Croatia feels unreal.

Hidden gems like the Izvor Cetine 👁️
and the artistic stone village of Grožnjan 🎨

And this is just the beginning.

There are so many more places like this across Croatia.

Which one would you visit first? 👇

17/03/2026

Not Italy? Not Spain? …but us…the best recipe 🔝🥇
Yeah… we kinda knew 😏🫒
and now the whole world knows too 🌍

Meanwhile:
➡️ winning world awards every year 🏆
➡️ small family farms 🔥
➡️ pure quality, no shortcuts 💯

Croatia is currently leading at the New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC) 🏆🇭🇷
with an impressive 74 gold awards so far — and counting. 🫒🔥

Small country. World-class quality. 🌍💯

Have you tried it and did you knew this?

13/03/2026

Croats are proud of where they come from. 🇭🇷
Not just of the land — but of the history, the struggle, and the identity that comes with it. ⚔️📜

You see it in our diaspora 🌍
You see it in our culture 🎶🏛️
And you see it in moments when someone like Luka Modrić speaks about Croatia. ⚽🇭🇷

In the video I attached, Modrić explains it perfectly.
That feeling that Croatia is more than just a country on the map.

It’s history. 📜
It’s sacrifice. ⚔️
It’s identity. 🛡️

And maybe that’s what makes Croatians different.

Because if every nation felt about their country the way Croats feel about Croatia… 🌍
then every nation would have the same spirit, the same unity, the same pride. 🇭🇷🔥

But they don’t.

What do you think makes Croatians special? 👇🇭🇷

Follow RawCroatia for more stories about Croatian culture, identity and pride. 🇭🇷⚔️🔥

08/03/2026

How strong are Balkan women?

For centuries, girls in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina were marked with a small cross on their skin.

This tradition was called sicanje.

Girls — sometimes as young as six years old — had their hands, arms, chest or forehead tattooed with crosses and protective symbols.

It was painful.
It was permanent.

But it was also protection.

During the Ottoman period, many families feared their daughters would be taken away into slavery or forced assimilation.

So mothers and grandmothers did something extraordinary.

They marked their daughters’ skin with faith, identity and resistance.

In many cases, these tattoos helped prevent girls from being taken away.

The ink was made from fir charcoal, honey and sometimes mother’s milk.

It was more than a tattoo.

It was a message:

You may conquer our land.
But you will not erase who we are.

Today, on International Women’s Day, we remember the women who carried their identity on their skin.

Women who endured pain so the next generation could keep their name, their faith and their story.

Because strength is not always loud.

Sometimes it is a small cross on a child’s hand — that refused to disappear.

08/03/2026

The name Lelek comes from an old Slavic word meaning a cry or lament — a voice that carries emotion, memory and stories from the past. 🕊️✨🎶

It’s a fitting name for a group whose music often draws inspiration from tradition, heritage and forgotten histories. 🧭 🌍 🏹

Speaking about their Eurovision song “Andromeda”, the members of Lelek explained that the performance was inspired by the historical practice of sicanje (also known as bockanje) — a traditional tattooing custom among Croatian Catholic women in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 🇭🇷🌍

Young girls had crosses and symbolic ornaments tattooed onto their skin as visible marks of faith, identity and belonging. ✝️🪡🖐️

These tattoos were more than decoration.
They were a symbol of resistance and protection. 🛡️⚔️🔥

The members of Lelek said they wanted to bring this powerful story to the stage — a story of women who carried their identity on their skin and refused to let it disappear. 👩‍🦳👩‍👧✝️ 📜 🕯️

Their message is simple but strong:

Know who you are.
Remember where you come from.
And carry your identity with pride. 🇭🇷🦅⛰️🔥

03/03/2026

03/03/2026

We really thought we invented it all, didn’t we? 🇭🇷😅

Corruption. Nepotism. Slow bureaucracy. Political promises that never happen. 🏛️⌛

Somehow… we act like Croatia patented human flaws. ™️🤦🏻‍♀️

This reel isn’t about denying problems.
It’s about perspective. 🌍

Because the moment you travel, live abroad, or actually pay attention — ✈️👀

You realise:

It’s not a Croatian problem.
It’s a human problem.

No country is perfect. 🌎
Some just have better PR. 📢✨

01/03/2026

01/03/2026

🚨🇭🇷 What a great song! Well done brate!!

You can never go wrong with Thompson 🔥🇭🇷🎶

Credit: Dorian Marko from TT
Dorian Marko

01/03/2026

It’s is so hard to get it right, is it? 😅

Because we are champions in complaining 🏆

This reel is simply a reflection on some of the comments under my previous video about returnees.

Apparently, when it comes to Croatia… you can’t win. 🇭🇷