Events:

The proposed Events take place once for a certain period of time and represent unique Bulgarian traditions.

You will find below a brief description of the Event.

A whole tour can be dedicated to the Event or we can fit it in the program of an already existing one.

Folklore Festival

 According to the Greek philosopher Democritus, life without festivals resembles a long journey without inns to stop at. According to the ethnographic experts the rites, connected to Bulgarian customs, exceed 11 000. Indeed, there are lots of rites, which accompanied the Bulgarian from the cradle to the grave.

Folk art developed as a continuation of the artistic traditions of Thracians, Proto-Bulgarians and Slavs. The first half of the 7 century, when the Bulgarian state was founded, is generally accepted as the starting point of its original formation and development. Having inherited a rich culture, the people used it as the basis for a new art. An art, specific in ethnic colouring had emerged, reflecting the characteristics of the socio-political life and historic fate, of the lifestyle and mentality of the people. In the years of Ottoman rule (14-19 centuries) folk art united the nation, thus preserving its original appearance.

The series of regional competitions and festivals held around the country culminating once every five years at the vast gathering of amateur music groups at the Koprivshtitsa Festival (next to be held in 2006).

The festival in Koprivshtitsa is particularly important, not merely because of its size – there are literally thousands of performers bused in from all over the country – but because it is the only one devoted to amateur performers. Its supporters say that the Koprivshtitsa Festival shows Bulgarian music at its most authentic – even if this means performing a mid-winter dance on a concrete platform in August with men dressed in woolly bear-suits in a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. Really they mean the music, if not the event, is genuine. This is village music as performed by villagers, not arranged and cleaned by professional ensembles.

Taking dancing lessons or music tuition is easiest here with all the professionals and non-professionals around. Everyone can try playing some of the traditional instruments: gaida (bagpipe), kaval (end-blown flute), gadulka (a bowed stringed instrument) tambura (a strummed stringed instrument) and tapan (large drum).