Dear Fabrikant, come join us on November 11 at 6 p.m. to the Traveler’s Club to immerse ourselves together in the Vlachian treasures of the villages of Deleyna, Koshava, and Yasen, just as our team and the participants (residents) in our residencies this year did while living there!

We unanimously believe that the most valuable local treasures are the local residents and our communication with them—with their lessons in unity, hospitality, humor, and care for their cultural treasures.

Through communicating with them, we also found out:

• what is Vlach dialect;
• Vlach songs and dances;
• architectural heritage and the so-called zhugraveli;
• the amazing Vlach funeral rites.

Our local coordinator from the village of Deleyna, ethnographer and researcher of Vlach culture, Desislava Bozhidarova, further explains about the last mentioned: “Funeral and memorial customs and rituals are the most conservative and have been preserved in their entirety to this day, and this is not a taboo subject for the Vlachs. When the moment of death arrives, the living must ensure that the deceased travels as quickly, easily, and safely as possible along the path that awaits them. This is a long transition, a change of status. The deceased must take their place among their loved ones in the other world, and this must be done without harming the living. Because at the very beginning of the transition, there is the danger of the intermediate space where wandering souls dwell.

To remain in the middle means to remain in chaos. And to prevent this from happening, there are a number of ritual ceremonies and actions that must be performed from the moment of death. A unique and very ancient custom associated with memorial rituals is still preserved today in the Vlach villages. Ora de Pomana is a ritual dance, part of the memorial rites. The custom is performed on the second day of Easter on the meadow at the foot of the Albotin Rock Monastery or at the Sunday horo in the center of the village.”

On November 11, we will tell (and show) you more about all this together with some of our residents from Baba Residence 2024, as well as Desislava Bozhidarova.

This year, the Baba Residence initiative once again landed on the banks of the Danube in the three Vlach villages of Deleyna, Kosava, and Yasen. In addition to living alongside and sharing experiences with the locals, we have an important new collaborative mission — to develop creative tourism experiences based on local culture that will help build a better future for these villages. You will have the opportunity to be among the first to participate in them if you come on the 11th!

We thank the Travelers’ Club for the truly hospitable welcome!

Cover photos – Bogomil Ivanov
Our residency this year was part of the “Development of Tourism in Northwestern Bulgaria and along the Danube River” competition organized by the America for Bulgaria Foundation.