This post is also available in: Bulgarian
Hello, my lovelies!
I am sorry for my absence here, but I decided to focus on enjoying the maximum of the summertime! Approximately two and a half months ago we came back to Bulgaria and since then we have been travelling around. We went a few times to our mountain house and I realised this place is the best for the summer: during the day it is perfect for pool time and golf and at night it is so fresh and you can actually relax and enjoy the atmosphere. We also went to the Black Sea for a few days to celebrate my sister’s 17th birthday and I was super happy to actually spend some quality time with my whole family. Then we went to visit my grandparents, we visited some friends in the charming Plovdiv and we indulged in numerous other day trips here and there. Honestly, just enjoying the amazing weather in Bulgaria!
However, this past weekend was a bit more special, as we decided to visit the famous Bulgarian festival of the folk nation “Zheravna 2018”. It is an annual celebration taking place on the penultimate weekend of August in the architectural reserve Zheravna. The main idea of this Bulgarian festival is to actually detach yourself from the modern, technological and fast-paced life and to return to the Bulgarian roots of about 150 years ago! An unique thing about this festival is that you have to wear national Bulgarian attire in order to enter the premises of “Zheravna 2018”. Furthermore, in order to maintain the authenticity of the festival, you are not allowed to bring any objects from our contemporary life, such as cameras, mobile phones and accessories.
In the modern world I truly believe that we actually need such celebrations in order to remember about our roots, history and the traditions, which we have to maintain and pass over to the next generations. I loved the idea behind the festival and that’s why I decided to share with you a bit more about the three days of the event (P.S. I was accredited to take photos and I have not done this against the authenticity rules of the festival).
Hopefully the captured moments would actually show you the amazing atmosphere, proud national spirit and the general happiness that were in the air!
On Friday we arrived around 20h and we quickly changed into the national attire “nosia” and went to see the official opening of the festival. There was a remembrance of the Bulgarian national heroes and then there were different performances around a big fire! There were literally more than 15,000 people dressed authentically, singing and dancing around the fire. This being the first thing you see when entering the festival honestly made it so emotional! Unique!
On Saturday we went to the festival in the morning and around noon my mum, who is part of a non-professional folklore ensemble, performed a few national dances, called “horo”. It was so beautiful and there were so many people just watching, cheering and dancing around the main stage.
We then went around the festival for a walk to explore the cute little shops for food, drinks, souvenirs and even traditional craftsmanship.
There was a small shop for hand-woven carpets and accessories from Plovdiv and behind it there was a school for the kids to actually learn how this was made back in the days. One cute little girl was actually the teacher and other small kids in national attire were learning how to hand-woven their own little carpets. This view could honestly make you melt!
Also we found a small place, where you could actually sit and learn how to make clay pottery. It was so interesting to just sit and watch how a very young child makes its mummy a new unique pot. I was really keen to try, but as there were a lot of kids, who wanted to try, we decided that it is better for them to learn about this authentic Bulgarian craftsmanship.
We made a quick stop for a bit of food and drinks and then continued our walk. We then met an elderly man who brought and set off a small Bulgarian cannon (“Chereshovo Topche” in Bulgarian); we also saw these men and woman who were actually creating a fight scene for the people passing by and we get to know a Pakistani man in his national attire selling their own produce of Bulgarian rose oil products with his Bulgarian wife.
There were so many other small shops for various Bulgarian craftsmanship products, others for guns and authentic weaponry and even some shops for food with quite unique cooking techniques, like this one with the gigantic pan for Bulgarian kebab.
At night there was another big fire and people set down around it to have dinner on authentic Bulgarian rugs and with authentic pottery and cutlery. You could literally buy any food and drinks you want, which made it so easy for everyone to just enjoy the atmosphere. Later there was a national dance around the fire and more of 15,000 stood up and danced around. It was magical!!! During one of the dances people brought all the world flags in order to send a message of honor from Bulgaria to the rest of the world.
It was probably one of the best experience we had this summer and I fell in love with the idea of getting in touch with our honorable past and traditions! I have been living abroad for five years now and honestly this experience filled my heart!!! Bulgarians are usually quite patriotic and we truly adore our traditions and history, so I believe that these three days were really emotional for everyone on the festival!
This amazing Bulgarian festival is not only a unique opportunity to get back to our roots, but is also a great way for foreigners to actually see what true Bulgaria and our national spirit really looks like.
I truly recommend it and I am definitely looking forward to coming back next year!
I am sorry for the long blog post, but I hope that the photos could actually show you the magic of this event and the unique Bulgarian nation and traditions!
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