Eggs and Bells

This year, the month of April was full of culture. We reopened the “Kirkovo School” house museum and the “Shisman House”, which was closed to visitors for more than 23 years. We had famous guests, those from foreign countries, known and unknown lovers of culture, literature, guests of all ages and speaking all languages. After many years the museums were closed due to the need for repairs, in 2024 we successfully completed the two-year project, with the help of which we carried out the repairs, enriched the previous expositions and opened their doors wide again for visits. The program for the opening of “Kirkovo School” included performances of folk songs and dances by performers from DTA “Yuzhnache” at the Youth Center and the People’s Orchestra at the Municipality-Haskovo, and graduates of the Music School in Plovdiv participated in a marimba performance. Later in the evening we also enjoyed the performances of Ivanka Shekerova, Silvia Predova, Mina Penkova and Tsanislav Petkov. The emblematic novelist Zachary Karabashliev, for his part, presented his new novel “Wound”, which officially marked the beginning of many similar events at “Kirkovo School”. The opening of “Shismanova House” was filled with symbolism and honor. Father Nikola started the new life of the property as a museum with a water light, which was attended by the mayor of the city and officials from the Municipality of Haskovo. Our fellow ethnographers welcomed everyone who wanted to see the house in all its glory, according to traditional custom. The mayor presented the family tree of the Shishmanovtsi family to the museum, displayed in a prominent place in the house, and a festive bell ringing at exactly 12 o’clock honored the family, thanks to which Haskovo is what it is today. The entire event was also streamed live on social media. The two new museums in the city immediately got involved in their role and became part of the events of the traditional “Jujna Prolet” festival. Our friends from Iceland tasted the Bulgarian culture and customs in every possible way and took a borak (the winner in an egg tapping tradition during Easter) to their homeland with a promise to see each other again very soon!