Bosilegrad is a town in Serbia, on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia, with a predominantly Bulgarian population, where people have preserved their Bulgarian identity, their traditions and their language.

For many years Bulgarian children from different countries have been coming to Bosilegradfor the Easter holidays. The jubilee 25^th edition of the international children’s Easter festival Bosilegrad 2018 will welcome more than 800 children from 6 countries, who will be putting on display their own works, competing with one another and taking part in the festival’s culture programme, which has, through the years, developed into a pivotal event for the preservation of Bulgarian values and traditions. The festival will feature competitions for sturdiest, most original and most beautiful Easter egg. The culture and entertainment programme from 2 to 9 April includes concerts, exhibitions, workshops, plays.

Alexander Dimitrov, chief organizer of the festival sys:

“25 years is a long time. We started from scratch and have done so much, we never even expected things to develop so well. For the jubilee, we extended invitations to 10 countries, but there will be children from 6 coming – from Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia. We will be having 700-800 kids in Bosilegrad at Easter. How did it all start? In 1994 we organized a children’s egg-knocking race in Bosilegrad. Of course, we had a winner, some contestants dropped out, but everyone enjoyed themselves so much that nobody minded. So we decided to organize another such contest the following year, and that got the ball rolling, and every year we have been adding something new. We realized that a festival like this had great potential and should be developed. We found sponsors, mostly from Bulgaria. We started from zero, but even reached the European Parliament – on 28 February we inaugurated an exhibition there “Bosilegrad – then and now”, with a focus on the international children’s Easter festival. Two years ago we earned the recognition of Europe – for preservation of traditions and customs, for love and tolerance, under the EC’s Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe – our Eastern festival was ranked next to Europe’s top festivals, and we are now part of the European festival community. All this goes to show that the efforts we have invested in organizing this event have paid off.”

The central event – the Easter egg contest, will take place on Easter Sunday. What does the festive programme include? Alexander Dimitrov:

“As always, we have tried to offer a diversity of events. Especially for the jubilee we shall have several theatrical productions – by “MaloTeatro” in Hungary, the Bulgarian “Sulza I Smyah” (Tear and Laughter) theatre, with the highlight being the concert by Bulgare ensemble and their show “8^th miracle”. On Holy Saturday the children will be able to see Rila Monastery – for 12 years we have been organizing visits to this Bulgarian historical landmark. Then we return to Bosilegrad for the Easter egg competitions, followed by one more concert – this time with more modern dancing and more dynamic music targeted at the very young. The festival’s jubilee edition coincides with the first Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, whose motto is “Unity makes strength”. That is precisely the mission of the Easter festival in Bosilegrad, which has for years been sending out a message of love, understanding and co-existence in a better world without borders or prejudice, a world of hope.”

English version: Milena Daynova