Čataj is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in western Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

 in Senec District

Senec District

Senec District is a district inthe Bratislava Region of western Slovakia. Until 1918, the district was part of the Hungarian county of Pressburg.-Municipalities:*Bernolákovo*Blatné*Boldog*Čataj*Dunajská Lužná*Hamuliakovo...

 in the Bratislava region

Bratislava Region

The Bratislava Region is one of the administrative regions of Slovakia. Its capital is Bratislava. It is the smallest of the eight regions of Slovakia.-Geography:...

. This typical agricultural village has fewer than 1000 inhabitants and is located aside from major roads, roughly between Senec

Senec, Slovakia

Senec is a town in the Bratislava Region of south-western Slovakia. It is a well known summer tourism and recreation center. The town is attractive not only because of the proximity of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, but also because of the healthy environment and summer resort "Slnečné...

 and Trnava

Trnava

Trnava is a city in western Slovakia, 47 km to the north-east of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a kraj and of an okres . It was the seat of a Roman Catholic archbishopric . The city has a historic center...

.

History

Early archeological digs show that people settled the area around Čataj as early as 5000 BC. The town was mentioned for the first time in 1244, under the name "posesio Chatey". In the next few centuries the town and surrounding lands were given as gifts to several different families loyal to the Hungarian crown.

In the 14th century, German colonists settled in Čataj, and until the 18th century the town was almost exclusively German. During this period, the town built a Catholic rectory

Rectory

A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...

 (1397) and a church in 1721. Later, in 1845 the current church was built in Neoclassical style

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

. The church was repaired twice in the second half of the twentieth century, and along with a much newer Catholic Evangelical

Catholic Evangelical

The term Evangelical Catholic is used by Christians who consider themselves both "catholic" and "evangelical" . Evangelical Catholic can refer to: evangelical Protestant Christians who consider themselves catholic Christians that identify with the historic Christian Church, who believe that the...

 church serve the local community.

Culture and entertainment

Čataj is famous primarily for its ornamental embroidery

Embroidery

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....

 of blouses and table clothes. These artworks have been sold all over the world, and one of them is said to have served as the late Pope John Paul II's

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 table cloth. Folk art also survives in the form of two music bands, the brass band Čatajanka and the gypsy folk band

Roma music

Romani music is the music of the Romani people, who have their origins in Northern India, but today live mostly in Europe....

 Farkašovci, which have toured beyond the borders of Slovakia. In addition, the village has a local folk dance group, Tulipán.

Due to its quiet and slow life and its agricultural character, Čataj has been often used as backdrops for movies and other art by movie directors Martin Slivka and Martin Ťapák, the cinematograper, photographer and folk art collector Karol Plicka and others.

In addition to folk art, the village organizes annual hunts and has a soccer team, which is regularly on the last place of Slovakia's lowest, sixth division of its soccer league. The village also organizes numerous dances in its cultural center.

Demographics

In 2004 the town had 972 inhabitants: 471 men and 501 women. 99.1% were of Slovak ethnicity; the only two declared minorities were Hungarian and Czech. 64.3% of inhabitants were Roman Catholic, 24.8% Evangelical Catholic and 7.3% atheist.

Of the 314 houses in the village 261 were permanently inhabited