A Yoghurt Fair attracts lovers of folklore
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Yoghurt is an ancient present to human kind and its country is Bulgaria. Europe finds out about the Bulgarian milk bacterium from the scientific report by Dr. Stamen Grigorov which was published in a French scientific magazine in 1905. Each year at the end of July Razgrad becomes a host to one of the most picturesque yoghurt fairs in the world. The yoghurt fair has been taking part in Razgrad since 2001 as a result of successfully won and defended project by program Sappard “Europe 2001” of the European Union. The specific and unique taste of the yoghurt from Razgrad attracts more and more visitors and connoisseurs of this product. Today the women are very proud with their skill to turn their jars with yoghurt upside – down. They still keep the old magic and are convinced that not a drop will spill out from the jar because the Getsovo yoghurt overcomes all laws of physics.Each year within the range of the fair different competitions and tasting of yoghurt for professionals and amateurs take part. The guests demonstrate their skills for making yoghurt. 10 to 12 were the participants from the first edition of the fair and their number increased to almost 60 craftsmen from the whole country this year, which is twice more than the previous year. Bands from 5 continents while dancing and playing showed their traditional customs and culture this year. The purpose is to make this unique fair popular and to turn Razgrad into a centre for lovers of folklore, traditions, crafts and gastronomy. During the fair a queen of yoghurt was chosen. A competition for the fastest cooked dish with yoghurt and the funny relay-race “amore taratore” took part.The main part of the program was the exhibition of traditional local dishes with yoghurt. “To try 100 dishes with yoghurt and 22 types of yoghurt is a real adventure and gastronomic pleasure”, says the gastronomy expert of the TV show Ivan Zvezdev, who was a guest of the edition for the first time this year.The yoghurt fair should become international and some other countries specialists in producing yoghurt should be invited.The exhibition of traditional products with yoghurt is a part of the rich folklore program, presented in the yard of the ethnographic museum in Razgrad. The bands from the community centre in the village of Getzovo presented old songs, the traditional dances – horo and rachenitza as well as one of the most authentic rituals of preparing yoghurt in front of Bulgarian and foreign guests.Using the tour animation combined with authentic folklore of different cultures living in the so called Ludogorie is a way of attracting foreign tourists, lovers of travels and folklore.To make everything we have inherited and preserved from our ancestors popular; the wealth of traditions and customs which relay to the variety of ethnographic groups, the specificity of their folklore, the crossing of their traditions and customs is an important part of the mission of this fair. |
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