The village of Jahodná

There is little reliable information about the origin of the name of the village. It is said that around 1460, King Mátyás's soldiers hunted in the surrounding forests, and when they were resting in the clearing, the girls from a nearby settlement offered them freshly picked strawberries. Perhaps it was these soldiers who unknowingly gave the settlement, in the area where many strawberries grew, the name Eperjes (eper = strawberry).
The settlement was originally on the right bank of the Little Danube. The first written mention of the existence of the village dates from 1552. The portal census from 1553 states that at that time András Báthory and the Lords of the Red Stone had 5 ports in the village. The document further states that there were 10 inhabited, 6 uninhabited and 3 iron lands in the village. At the beginning of the 17th century, the village was the property of the widow of Mihály Thurz, in 1640 it became the property of the Esterházy family. Probably at this time, the settlement began to expand to the left bank, because the manor house stood in a neighboring village - in Tomášikov.

The Esterházy family had a Roman Catholic church built in the Baroque style in 1747 in the village. The church, which is the oldest public building in the village, was named after the apostles St. Peter and Paul according to the day of his consecration in 1750. In 1877, a huge fire engulfed the village. He destroyed not only the roof of the church, but also the tower and the organ, and at the same time the bells were damaged. The church was rebuilt in its current form in 1882 and is still an ornament of the village.
In May 1825, a one-class Roman Catholic school opened in the village. However, the population grew and therefore the school had to be expanded. In 1896, the village bought an older building from Count Mihály Esterházy, opposite the church, in which a tavern and a cutout had been landed until then. The building was converted into a two-class school and two apartments for teachers and was taught from 1900 until 1961, when a new nine-class school was built. Part of the building then served for a while as a school canteen, today it houses a health center and until recently there was also a post office in the side wing.

Fishing was an important source of food and income for the village population. The privilege of fishing on the Little Danube from Jelka to Kolárov belonged to the Esterházy family, and local fishermen paid rent for their fishing. Transportation across the Little Danube has been provided by the company for centuries. It was owned by the Esterházy family for a long time, until it was bought by the local urban community in 1792. Kompa operated until 1940, when a bridge was built across the river. On March 31, 1945, however, it was destroyed by retreating German troops, and until 1992, when the new bridge was completed, traffic across the river was temporarily handled.

The village was once known mainly for its mistake. Of the eleven mills in which grain from a wide area was ground, unfortunately only two have survived. However, the last local miller Béla Takács sold his mill to the Slovak National Museum in Martin in 1972, and only one mill has been preserved in the village as a technical monument. At the end of the 19th century, it was built by Boldizsár Renczés, but when the mill burned down in 1920, it was bought by the lord forester István Nagy. He converted it into a water saw in 1931. Using cutting equipment, he produced electricity in the mill, which not only significantly accelerated sawing, but also enabled the lighting of public buildings in the village. After his death, the mill came under the administration of the Žitnoostrov Museum.

Jahodná provides a rich amount of recreation and water sports, thanks to which it has been sought after by more and more visitors since the end of the 1950s. The surroundings of the Little Danube are a paradise for water tourists, fishermen and swimmers will enjoy themselves. In particular, the part of the Little Danube under the water mills, where a cottage settlement was built in the 1970s, is very popular. In the village there is a beautiful park with rare trees, a sports complex, a marina and a boat rental.

Every year, the "Katica" puppet festival takes place in Jahodná. The puppet club, a mixed choir, a group of modern dances and other interest groups contribute to the revival of cultural life in the village, and the volunteer firefighters have revived the tradition of carnival festivities. The village traditionally hosts mass boat trips every year, e.g. on Easter Sunday or May 1; on the last sunday of january, the village is visited by a well-known group of hardy bears "Polar bears". Since 1997, the last Saturday in May or the first Sunday in June has been reserved for Village Day. Visitors can enjoy excellent food, drink, dance music and most importantly good fun. The culmination of a rich all-day program is a performance by a well-known artist or group, usually from Hungary.