Slavonia is a region where man had been leaving, from times immemorial, traces of his presence and his spiritual culture, the latter bearing evidence of how much he loved his land and the intimate laws governing its existence.

As patriarchal Slavonia was gradually suppressed by the oncoming era, corroded by the fast rhythm of modern life and losing its traditional Slavonian identity, the idea of freezing local traditional culture in time began to form. This idea was first put to practice by a review of original folklore of Slavonija&Baranja regions. That review showed a great interest of local people to preserve traditional designs created by skillful hands of the best weavers and embroiderers, clever intellectual yarn spun by our wise predecessors, so short verse will become a trademark of popular Slavonian poetry, and the Folklore Review of Slavonia&Baranja eventually crossed its regional borders and was renamed into Vinkovacke Jeseni.

Why does the festival take place in autumn?
It is because this season rewards the Slavonian for his endeavor. He and the land seem to share the happiness over the accomplishment, and the man expresses his joys and sorrows in songs. Now the farmer goes to Vinkovci, the town in the heart of Sokadia , and show that «songs are our history, it is where we keep both our good and our bad».

Slavonian women have expressed their spiritual grace by creating extremely beautiful and original costumes. The festival provides a unique stage for their talent and spirit, lest it should remain forever hidden in the drawers.

Once it became widely popular, the festival created numerous bounds between people sharing the same appreciation of traditional culture, language and customs, boosting multilateral exchange in Croatia and expanding into a complex set of events covering a variety of disciplines, such as science, tourism, sport, business or entertainment.
Today these events comprise an original popular and scientific gathering point for all carriers of autochtonous traditional culture, ethnologists, ethnographers, musicologists, craftsmen, artisans and many others.
In the past forty years the festival has done much more than initially intended. It has become richer, more complex and versatile in many new aspects, and one of the most developed and most significant ones in Croatia.