Local Festivals
Rojen folk fair
If you want to feel the real spirit of Rhodopi people, then come to Rojen folk fair. It is usually held once per every two years during the last Saturday and Sunday of August. You will hear here many beautiful songs and folk music and you will see many beautiful dances, as you will be captivated here by the exceptionally beautiful folk costumes. The folk fair is more than 100 years old. It was held for the first time in year 1898. Then, the border between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire was fixed across the mountain top Rojen and spontaneously relatives from both sides of the border gathered at the mountain peak. The unique bagpipe orchestra “One hundred big bagpipes” was highly acclaimed at the folk fair held in year 1961 and became a symbol of that folk fair, as this bagpipe orchestra was also named “”The Miracle of Rojen”. Valia Balkanska has sung its song “Delio rebel went out” here, which after being recorded was played onboard the space station “Voyager”, together with the music of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, in search of alien civilizations in Universe.
Saint Lazarus Day
The traditional spring holiday was restored by the pupils at the primary school after an interruption of many years in Shiroka luka. It is celebrated on Saturday, on the 8-th day before Easter, on the day of Saint Lazarus. Young single women gather in one of their houses. After that, dressed in traditional Bulgarian folklore costumes, they visit the houses in the village, sing festive songs and wish local people to be healthy, happy and to have a good harvest. Every house owner presents them with eggs, fruits and gives them small presents. Young single men in the village on this day in the past asked their girlfriend’s parents for her hand in marriage. The holiday, having spring sensation and filling the village streets with the sound of beautiful Rhodopi folk songs, is expected impatiently not only by female participants, but also by the village inhabitants and guests.
Saint Iliya’s Day – Bagpipe festival
The traditional local fair, called by local people Saint Iliya’s Day, takes place every year near the Rhodopi village Gela. The fair takes place on every first Sunday of August in the locality Ilinden, near the chapel “Saint Iliya”. This holiday is celebrated not only by the inhabitants of Gela village, but also by the whole population of the Middle Rhodopi area. This holiday is a unique family and kinsfolk gathering and in the end people eat barbecue, sing folk songs and dance. The holiday also attracts many tourists, as they come to see the traditional bagpipe festival.
Saint George’s Day
One old tradition was restored in Stoikite village in year 2001-the celebration of Saint George’s Day. On this day in the past, everyone got up early and washed himself well with dew and wild geranium, gathered from nearby meadows. Most of the families slaughtered lambs for votive offering. Some women took water from the local big pool, where the water swirled leftwards and people washed themselves with this water to be healthy and to protect themselves from illnesses and magic. During the day there was a round dance and old ladies also danced, as one of them was at the head of this round dancing, holding walnut leaves in her hand, as they sang in choir: “Dear Dobro, unfold green leaves…”
Shiroka Luka traditions
During the first days of March in accordance with old traditions, a folk carnival takes place in the village of Shiroka luka. The main figures in it are a group of young men, who become unrecognizable by wearing awesome leather masks. They perform ancient scenes and dances under the rhythm and sound of sheep bells tied to their bodies.
Early in the morning of “Evil Monday”, the group of young men gathers on the square and after that goes around the village. During their round, old people try to take something away from their decorations, so that there will be fertility and abundance in their homes.
The holiday of milk
Every year, on the last Saturday and Sunday of August, the inhabitants of the Rhodopi village of Smilian organize a holiday in honor of milk and of cows, which they milk. The local cow owners, dressed festively in traditional Rhodopi costumes, take their most beautiful and milky cows out of the cow stables, as the cows are decorated with flowers, beads and bells and the cows participate in the competition “Miss cow”. There are Rhodopi round dances, laughter and merriment then and you can also hear Rhodopi folk songs here during the two days of celebration.
The ritual „Milking“
All sheep of one or two villages are gathered in a big flock, which spends the summer high up in the mountain, where the sheep graze grass on the hardly accessible meadows, far from villages. This is done so that local people can make hay on the meadows near the village and the dried hay is collected for the winter, without spending money for transportation from afar, mountain people say.
Drawing from the centuries-old experience, local people have found a way the hired shepherds high up in the mountain never to be hungry and thirsty and at the same way, every sheep owner could collect and use his milk, without being necessary to climb up in the mountain every morning to milk his sheep. For these reasons, the ritual “milking” is very important to sheep owners here. In the beginning of the summer, sheep are taken out to pasture near a sheep pen. Two days are necessary for their adaptation. During these two days, the shepherds milk all sheep. Some of the milk is used to make yoghurt and the remaining quantity of milk is used to make cheese. Usually the big quantity of milk suffices for several cauldrons of cheese and yoghurt, as the sheep owners, who come on the third day of the milking also eat the freshly made cheese and yoghurt. On this day, sheep owners get up very early and go to the sheep pens high up in the mountain.
After sunrise, every sheep owner takes back his own sheep from the flock of sheep and milks them. These sheep owners, who have more sheep, bring helpers with them, so that the milking will be done in time, as all work high up in the mountain is done manually and this tradition was preserved here over the centuries. People milk their own sheep and put the milk in their own milk vessels and after all people finish with milking, they start weighing the available milk. At the end, they calculate how many liters of milk should be given to each sheep owner for a month and they make a schedule for every single day. In this way, in stead of collecting a few liters per day from a few sheep, one of these Rhodopi sheep owners goes on a scheduled day and collects the milk of the whole flock of sheep. Every sheep owner, going to the “dairy farm”, must also bring with him food for the shepherds. They make a unique kind of cheese in he Western Rhodopi mountain, whose taste is very similar to that of the yellow cheese and they put the ready cheese in jars, so that it will be preserved for a long time. They call in “Rhodopi cheese”. On the day of milking, sheep owners eat freshly made cheese and fresh sheep milk yoghurt and they eat together-directly on the meadows under the sounds of sheep bells, as the flock of sheep grazes nearby. Women prepare for this day typical Rhodopi food specialties and men bring with them home-made brandy. After collecting the milk and giving cheese to all participants in the milking, the sheep owners and the shepherds slaughter one sheep for the purpose of votive offering. They boil the sheep meat in one of the cauldrons in the morning and eat it together. The sheep owner, who has provided the sheep for the votive offering, gets money for it, as he stipulates the price in advance. Before putting the boiled sheep meat in bowls, every person present leaves his bowl near the cauldron. These bowls are different kind and in size and range from a mess tin to a plastic bucket. The chief shepherd/the owner of the biggest number of sheep divide the boiled mutton in equal shares. In the end, he counts out the food vessels and stipulates the price that should be paid by each person. Tourists are not allowed to be present at this event, as may also want to taste from the meal: “We pay here for our meal here and it is not for free!” says Spas from Stickul village, which is neighboring to Gela village. Sheep owners know what to do and a blink is enough, because there are always people around, who have not been invited, but are present there, even only to eat a lot of sheep milk yoghurt.
