The Gurkovo Donkey Festival!

Two weekends ago there was a Donkey Festival—held in commemoration of, what else, the DONKEY! It was great fun. Two volunteers from the area participated. They had a donkey cart and everything. Each cart had to have a theme so they went with the 70’s (the festival began during the 1970’s). Their cart looked like a tie-dye covered wagon. The festival was hilarious. During the raising of the flags they played donkey noises in the background! There were a variety of events included in the festival: the race, donkey soccer, donkey tug-a-war, and a donkey beauty contest. The American cart took second place in the beauty contest!










In the evening one of the chalga (Bulgarian pop music) singers, Preslava, came for a short performance. The Gurkovo volunteer was excited because he was one of only two people there to get a picture with her.





Later that night we camped-out by a stream near town. A volunteer had some marshmallows from back home so we had fun making smores while sitting around the camp fire. It was a really good time. Here are some photos from the camp-out:

Touring the Valley of the Roses

You may have though that the Rose Festival would have provided enough Rose related festivities for one season but you couldn’t be more wrong. Shortly after the festival was complete, I went with two other volunteers on a tour of the Rose Valley that was hosted by JICA. The tour was all free because JICA was testing it out on us foreigners! It was GREAT! Over the course of the two day tour we saw a Koukeri puppet show, visited two of the Thracian tombs, saw Thracian treasures at the local museum, went rose picking, did some folk dancing and partook of rose jam and liquor. We also got to stay over with Bulgarian families that are part of the Rural Tourism Association, which is developing mini-bed-and-breakfasts in the villages around Kazanlak.

The Koukeri Puppet Show:

One of the Thracian Tombs:




The Ethnographic House (where we learned about various extracts and had some rose jam and liquor; the second photo is a Rose Distiller):

Thracian Treasures:

Japanese Doll Display (was setup by one of the JICA volunteers at the local museum):




My Rural Tourism Experience (Below is a picture of the family I stayed with and some of their rabbits. I had lots of fun playing with the rabbits that they raise but was sad to discover that they were on the menu. The people were very nice and, I am sad to say, the rabbit was very good—poor bunnies):




Our Visit to the Rose Fields:


Me and 2 volunteers from Alaska (Jack and Rhonda) on our way to the fields

The Kazanlak Rose Festival

The following are pictures from the Rose Festival, which took place this past June. The festival recognizes the importance of Rose oil production in this region of Bulgaria. The most important thing to know is that they drop rose oil from planes during the closing parade (a pleasant surprise for all on a hot summer day)!

Here are a few photos from the international folk festival, which coincides with the Rose festival. The Russian folk group (see the dancers in blue costumes) was great! The styles of the other groups were similar so they tended to run together, but the Russians were very different—combining what seemed like Bulgarian folk dancing with more fluid movements that were almost ballet like.







The next few photos were taken in a rose field outside of Kazanlak. I went with some other PCVs and JICA volunteers to take part in rose picking ritual and some traditional songs and dance. One of the funniest parts of the whole experience was that there was a bus full of Japanese tourists attending the event (I’m not very use to tourists being here but with the festival there was an influx of both Japanese and English—it was strange to say the very least). They all had matching visors on from a local hotel—it was odd but cute. I think there were more cameras there than people :)








The presentation of the queen was a bit intense (see below). There was a huge rose on stage that she emerged from following a ballet performance. As she was coming-out of the blossom, the stage filled with smoke, an entourage of little girls threw peddles at her feet, and rose oil was released into the air. Following the presentation the mayor spoke; as usual, his arrival on stage was preceded by academy award type music. The spectacle finished with a display of fireworks. It was a fun show but I preferred the rose rituals out in the fields—it was much more authentic.