We would like to tell you about the experience that we had during the Ribaritsa Folklore Fair together with Derick Farmer, a US Peace Corps volunteer.

The annual Fair of the Bulgarian national traditions and authentic Bulgarian costumes took place on July 11, 12, and 13 in the resort of Ribaritsa, close to the town of Teteven. The event was organized by the Teteven Municipality and supported by the Ministry of Finance.

The aim of the fair is to help preserve the Bulgaria traditions, and to choose a town or a village, which preserved best the authentic Bulgarian folklore.

The Ribaritsa Fair included folklore singing competitions and competitions for the best folklore mask as well as presentations of authentic Bulgarian national costumes, dances and traditions. The participants in the competitions were between 14 and 104 years of age.

Our group from the chitalishte (cultural community club) in the town of Telish, which is close to the city of Pleven, won the first prize - a golden cup - in the competition for Koledari - the presentation of Bulgarian folklore Christmas traditions and Christmas songs.

Koledari (from "Koleda" - the Bulgarian word for Christmas) is the name of the people who perform these traditions every year in the night of December 24 by forming groups and visiting people's homes, singing traditional songs, and greeting them for the birth of Christ.

A total of over 100 groups took part in the singing and presentations of national customs.

The US Peace Corps volunteer Derick Farmer from Kansas, who is working with us at the chitalishte in Telish, also accompanied our group to the Ribaritsa Fair.

He was captivated by the beauty of the nature of the Ribaritsa Mountains, and was eager to try the special local dishes, which were provided to all participants and guests of the fair - beans and salted fish soup.

Derick even put on a Bulgarian national costume. He really enjoyed wearing it throughout the Fair and taking picture with us, his colleagues, as well as with many of the other participants and guests of the Ribaritsa Folklore Fair.

Team of Chitalishte Razvitie
("Development" Cultural Community Club)
Telish, District of Pleven

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