Celebrations of Vasilitsa 2023 – Guidelines
The celebration of the ethno-cultural holiday of the Roma community, Vasilitsa, has become a tradition that stands in an important place in the country’s cultural calendar. The feast of Vasilica is celebrated by the Roma and other ethnic groups as the beginning of the New Year and is celebrated on January 13, 14 and 15. On these days or on their eve, dozens of schools, youth groups for civic participation and tolerance and community centers throughout the country organize celebrations where they present all the richness of folklore traditions and way of life of the Roma community in Bulgaria. For years, the Amalipe Center has been organizing the “Let’s restore the bridges between us” campaign. Why Vasilitsa, what we want to achieve through the campaign and what new things we aim for in the new year 2023. See here…….
The events marking Vasilica and the “Let’s rebuild the bridges between us” campaign are up to you and what you think is appropriate and applicable in your locality and municipality. We also offer you some types of events that have proven popular in previous years:
- Greeting of local institutions/Survakane:
It is conducted by students, being organized by the student parliament, the educational mediator and other representatives of the educational institution. Contact with an invitation expressing your desire to hold a traditional survakanе, choose a local institution, for example: Mayor, Chairman of the Municipal Council, RZI, RUO, District Governor, Director of an educational institution, chairman of a community center, etc. The “Survakane” ritual is part of the events for the Vasilitsa holiday, which the Roma community honors as the beginning of the New Year and during which children wish for health and prosperity with names traditional to Roma folklore. Besides survakane, you can prepare a short program when visiting similar institutions. The program might look like this:
- Presentation of the Roma ethno-cultural holiday “Vasilitsa” – the Roma New Year – for help you can use the information from the following link – https://amalipe.bg/en/calendar-feasts/;
- Survane/Greeting of employees;
- Performance of a traditional Roma dance or performance of a theme song;
- Presentation of the traditional Bulgarian customs related to the holidays – Christmas and Survaki.
2. Organization of a school/municipal concert (together by the school, educational mediators, the student parliament):
The concert is organized by the educational mediator with the participation of the student parliament. Individual performers (students), dance formations (Roma folklore club), as well as other young talents can take part in the performance. It is possible to make and include in the concert a theatrical performance/reenactment “How to celebrate “Vasilitsa” according to the traditions of the Roma community in your town. In the solemn concert on Vasilitsa, you can invite and include in the program famous artists/musicians of Roma origin, who will also participate. As guests, you can invite local Roma leaders, teachers, principal, necessarily parents and students. You can also make an invitation to spread so more people can come.
3. Creation of an exhibition on the topic: “History, way of life, culture and traditions of the Roma and other ethnic groups in our municipality”: The exhibition can be in a school or in the municipality/city hall/citizenship:
You can find information on our web page, but you can also obtain such information yourself and print materials to create an exhibition that shows the history, lifestyle, culture, and tradition of the Roma community in Bulgaria. At the presentation of the exhibition, invite a local representative of the Roma community who can be a successful example for the students and tell their success story.
4. Task for the Student Parliament and youth groups on civic participation and tolerance (with the help of the educational mediator):
Make a short video on the topic: My (Our) Top 5 things about Roma culture that impressed me the most?
- If you want to complicate the task, you can make a larger ranking – for example Top 10
- Joker – The Roma Wealth game can give you a lot of ideas. If you have played it before, it will be very easy for you. If you haven’t yet, you can find it here: https://amalipe.bg/quiz/
The videos don’t have to be professional but to express your favorite things from Roma culture – it can be people, songs, customs, food, etc., to promote and reach more people. For this purpose, we will share your videos on the Amalipe Center’s social networks. So be creative!
5. Organizing a contest:
For example: Best reciter of poems by Romani writers; Best Roma Dancer and an exhibition of paintings on the theme of “Vasilitsa”.
6. The following initiatives can also be organized at the junior high school and high school level: 5th and 6th grade – presenting a presentation on the Romany fairy tale “Garden of the Nations” and reading Romany fairy tales in BEL-IUCH classes; “Customs of the Roma community” – discussion in 7th and 8th grade during class time; “How do we celebrate the Roma New Year at home?” – discussion in 9th and 10th grade; “Animated History of the Roma” – film.
Make sure that after marking “Vasilitsa”, you make a post on the school Facebook page. In the post, describe in detail how you marked “Vasilitsa”, adding best photos to the post.
Important!!! At the end of the post you need to write the following hashtags –
#Vasilitsa
#Amalipe
If possible, also note our facebook page Center Amalipe
Please, after making a post, copy the text and paste it into a word file. Save the file to your device and email it to us – amalipe.vt@gmail.com with attached photos so that we can also write an article for you.
Materials that you can use see here
Good luck Tumaro Vasili, Good luck Nevo Bresh!
The Amalipe Center team