Vasilitsa 2022 brought together online students with the Vice President, Ministers and Ambassadors!
For the 13th year, on January 13th (and 14th), dozens of children from the schools of the Amalipe Center network “Every student will be an excellent student” opened the doors of the most responsible institutions in the country, as well as the diplomatic corps, for Roma culture, traditions, values. On January 13 and 14, dozens of students opened the hearts of politicians and diplomats, made them forget the protocol and be completely honest – about the path they took, about the difficulties, to share intimate moments from their personal stories, things, which you only share with friends. “Thank you that through you I was able to touch a wonderful new world in which the Roma are valued and respected” – so one of our mediators felt this thirteenth Vasilitsa. And when we have abandoned our stereotypes, then we can build our future together, discuss problems and solutions without breaking them through complexes, guilt or prejudice. That is why the main message of the holiday and the main goal in the efforts of the Amalipe Center is to upgrade the traditions around Vasilitsa is to build bridges: from the old to the new year; from the old to the new in our relationships and deeds. And maybe we succeeded… or we succeeded all these 13 years and the tireless teachers, students, parents, mediators, who walked small paths in small steps. And if in previous years some of the institutions received us somehow quietly – without media, without press releases on their pages, this year was different: they had crossed the bridge to truly share our holiday.
Unfortunately, almost as in the legend, this year Covid-19 tried to destroy the bridge, broke the ties between the people and tried to build walls. Once again, however, we have shown that when one strives for something strong enough, one finds a way: there are no impossible things. We found a way to make this Vasilitsa so that we forget the distances and barriers on the screens. That is why after the attending ceremony at the Ministry of Education and Science, during which the Minister of Education Acad. Denkov, the Deputy Prime Minister Borislav Sandov and the Chairman of the Amalipe Center Deyan Kolev presented the “Educational Mediator of the Year” awards during the event organized by the Amalipe Center., COIDUEM and MES, we went on a virtual visit to the main institutions and embassies. We will tell you about them below.
What we said to the institutions?
As every year, we not only wished Vasilitsa good health, but also asked the institutions for specific actions. We explained that for the 13th consecutive year we are organizing public celebrations of the Vasilitsa holiday as a Day of Roma Culture, in order to emphasize three things:
- First, let us emphasize that the Roma should not be perceived as a “vulnerable group”, a “marginalized community” or a “socially disadvantaged citizen”, but as an ethnic group with a millennial culture and traditions. Not only do we not want to lose these traditions, but we strive to develop them and make them our bridge to modernity;
- Secondly, to illustrate the closeness in the traditions of the different ethnic groups in the Balkans, which is clearly demonstrated by the holiday Vasilitsa, which is actually St. Basil’s Day on the Julian calendar and only two or three generations ago was celebrated as New Year by all ethnic groups in Bulgaria;
- Third, let us recall that one tenth of Bulgarian citizens, and an even larger percentage of Bulgarian children, are Roma and the investment in their education and integration is an investment in the well-being of Bulgaria.
We asked the national institutions to fill in an important gap: the Coalition Agreement, which forms the current government, includes almost nothing related to the Roma and their integration. This gives freedom and responsibility to the relevant ministries to take the necessary actions. We proposed concrete steps, such as securing funding from the state budget for the activities of educational mediators (especially after the end of the Support for Success project), radical reform of the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues, inclusion of Roma participation in the new National Roma strategy and its approval by the National Assembly and others. We thanked the embassies for their participation in the Ambassadorial Group on Roma Affairs and suggested that it come out even more often with opinions and suggestions.
The celebrations of the holiday were memorable everywhere:
Students from the High School “St. Paisii Hilendarski” in Varbitsa, Shumen region were virtual guests of Vice President Iliana Yotova on the occasion of Vasilitsa – Roma New Year. The meeting began after Deyan Kolev, chairman of the Amalipe Center, thanked the vice president for his support and good cooperation on various initiatives related to better education of Roma youth. He called on the presidential institution to be a guarantor for the inclusion of the topic of Roma integration (and in particular the equality of Roma women) in the agenda of Bulgarian institutions and society. Vice President Iliana Yotova has promised to work with Amalipe on an initiative to prevent early marriages. Mrs. Yotova greeted the students, telling them never to give up their dreams, to listen to their parents and teachers who open the book of knowledge in front of them. The Vice President thanked the management and the pedagogical team of the school for their dedicated work and the love with which they raise the children. She told them she was aware that teachers were doing the impossible to carry out their mission in these difficult times of a pandemic. The director of the school, Mrs. Milka Atanasova, pointed out that over 50% of the teachers are currently alumni of the school. The children who took part in the congratulatory address delighted the vice-president with both live musical performances and stories about the traditions related to Vasilitsa. The survakars sang her the song “Oh Vasili, come on.” The luck that Vice President Iliana Yotova drew from the students’ pie was “Be healthy and patient all year round. Lead all the people until tomorrow, even to the amen!”
Deputy Prime Minister Kalina Konstantinova received virtual survakars from Sеcondary school “Traiko Simeonov” in Shumen. In his congratulatory words, the President of the Amalipe Center recalled the legend of St. Basil, who restored the bridge and wished Deputy Prime Minister Konstantinova to restore many destroyed bridges. One of them should be a deep reform in the NCCEII, as in 2013 Roma organizations have left the Council and it is no longer functioning. Another restored bridge should be the new National Strategy for Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation: it should include a special chapter on Roma participation and be adopted by a decision of the National Assembly. Deyan Kolev also presented secondary school “Traiko Simeonov” as one of the few schools in the country that has managed to overcome secondary segregation and attract Bulgarian students. The Deputy Prime Minister also greeted those present and showed his positive attitude to the holiday, as well as to the organization and the school, after which all those present immersed themselves in the rich and emotional program of the students. Mrs. Galina Sakarova – the director of the school, incarnated in the role of the oldest woman in the family, also took part in the reconstruction of the Roma holiday. Amid the clarinet sound, warmed by the fire in the fireplace, all were immersed in the rituals of asking for forgiveness, kissing a hand, survakane, breaking bread, and pulling the lucky ones out of the pie. Deputy Prime Minister Konstantinova, in turn, also got lucky. She received the luck “Starting new profession at Secondary School ” Traiko Simeonov” – support “programmer”, strengthen the innovations in the IT sector!”. And just as she had questions for the students, so they had questions for her. She was asked about her deepest dream, about her role as a woman in politics and others. A conversation was held, filled with sincerity, purity and shared dreams and desires. And because of the pure thoughts and wishes that are sent on this magical holiday, all those present believed that what was shared will happen! Deputy Prime Minister Konstantinova asked to visit the school and immerse herself in its atmosphere and live, when the Covid-19 situation allows. She promised to pay a visit to secondary school “Traiko Simeonov” and to meet personally with these wonderful children.
We discussed together with the Deputy Minister of Culture Yuri Valkovski about the spirit of the traditions of different communities, about the culture that we must preserve and pass on through the generations, about education and change. Students from St. Cyril and St. Methodius Primary School in Cheshnegirovo presented their knowledge in the field of literature and arts as a greeting to the Ministry of Culture. Impressed and inspired, the Deputy Minister submitted his request to personally visit the school and meet with the children.
On the eve of Vasilitsa – the Roma New Year, the members of the Student Parliaments and the students from the groups on Folklore of the ethnic groups – Roma folklore in the primary school “Otets Paisiy” – Borovan and the primary school “St. St. Cyril and Methodius “- the village of Devene” visited “from a distance in the electronic environment of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. The symbolic host of the meeting was personally the Ambassador of Germany – HE Christoph Eichhorn. After a short visit to the two educational institutions made by Mrs. N. Naychova and Mrs. G. Georgieva, the groups presented their greetings to the symbolic hosts. The children from Borovan performed the emblematic song “Vasilitsa Romani” for the holiday, and through an original video they showed what survachka (traditionally decorated wooden stick for the greetings ritual for the New year) is, how it is made and what names are pronounced during survakane (traditional greetings ritual) itself. A wonderful dance was the greeting of the students from the Deven school. Both schools – long-term partners of the Amalipe Center in educational projects, expressed their gratitude to the organization and the opportunity to be part of the Vasilitsa campaign for another year. Their magnificent performance is also due to their teachers I.Gachovska,. N.Garvanova and V. Trifonova.
In the next event for the first day of the virtual greetings organized by the Amalipe Center for the second year in a row to observe the tradition of celebrating the ethnocultural holiday Vasilitsa, the Ambassador of Ireland to Bulgaria, HE Mrs. Martina Feeney virtually welcomed her online guests from the schools in the village of Dzhulyunitsa and the town of Suhindol. In a video greeting, the talented students from the United School “PR Slaveykov” in the village of Dzhulyunitsa congratulated their host by recreating one of the legends about Bango Vasil and called for health and prosperity with the traditional survakane. The dance greeting of the students from the group “Folklore of the ethnic groups” from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski ”, Suhindol, led by Gergana Dimitrova, showed their exceptional skills in national folk dances. They recreated the so-called gypsy dance and author’s dance of the group and so brought the festive mood, albeit from a distance in the digital environment of the electronic meeting platform. From the pie of good luck, the ambassador withdrew work and the realization of plans, with which the embassy committed to working even harder and in his capacity as chairman of the Ambassadorial Group for Roma Integration. In the questions and answers of the discussion at the end of the meeting, Ambassador Feeney shared that she has decided to become a diplomat since she was a schoolgirl and that when someone is aspiring and confident in their dreams, they happen!
Three secondary schools took part in the online “visit” of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, namely: Sofia University “Hristo Smirnenski” – Koynare, Sofia University “Father Paisii” – Medkovets and Sofia University “Hr. Smirnenski ”- the town of Gulyantsi. The revived brass band of the Gulyan school performed the song “Vasilitsa”, and the youngest participants – students from the Koinari school led by Mrs. T. Butanska expressed their blessings for health and prosperity during the year. The doyen in the family of Amalipe – the school in the village of Medkovets, led by Mrs. M. Viktorova, presented with a wonderful video a chronology of the celebration of the holiday in the twenties of cooperation with the NGO. The principals of the schools, Mrs. D. Tsonovska, Mrs. Monova and Mrs. Petrusheva, expressed their respect for the symbolic host HE Simon Van Der Burg showed her handmade souvenirs, which will be sent to the embassy.
The team of the European Commission Representation in Bulgaria was congratulated for Vasilitsa by the students of the primary school “P.R. Slaveykov ”, village of Dzhulyunitsa. The meeting was opened by Zhanna Vasileva and Galina Decheva, regional coordinators at the Amalipe Center, who congratulated the hosts and participants on the holiday. They told what Vasilitsa symbolizes for the Roma; how the holiday is related to the legend of St. Basil, and what is the message of the Amalipe Center to institutions, ministries, and embassies. And that is that we must build bridges between us, bridges between ethnic groups, between citizens, between institutions, and between our hearts! EC Economic Adviser Marina Kirova congratulated the Amalipe Center and all participants on the holiday and wished them health, prosperity, happiness, and success in education. In the end, everyone was happy with the lucky draws from the traditional lucky bath.
Traditionally, on the eve of Vasilitsa on January 13, the students from the St. Paisii Hilendarski Primary School in the village of Sotirya and the Hristo Botev Primary School in Stamboliyski visited the French Embassy, where they were welcomed by HE Florence Robin. The representatives of the groups “Folklore of the ethnic groups” from Sotirya, presented through a theatrical performance some of the Roma customs around the festive table, the symbolism of the dishes and virtually greeted the ambassador through survakane, with blessings for health and success! The students from the united school in Stamboliyski took us to the festive atmosphere of Vasilitsa through a live performance by the trio “Tarambuki” and conquered the screen with a magical Indian dance, dressed in colorful clothes.
After presenting their greetings, the children involved the ambassador in an interesting discussion, deciding to ask her “How do the Roma celebrate Vasilitsa in France?”. As a sign of the ongoing partnership, Ambassador Florence Robin said that she still keeps the whey in her office, donated by students from the network. Each student will be an excellent student from previous visits.
The American Ambassador to Bulgaria HE Hero Mustafa met with students from the Vocational School of Food and Chemical Technology in Pazardzhik. Minutes before 10:00 a.m. on January 14, students and their supervisors were in front of computers waiting for their host. It’s St. Basil’s Day! Survakane time. In one of the small windows of ZOOM, a dozen students in costumes had gathered around the New Year’s table. “The oldest”, with a cleverly glued mustache, tells the legend of Bango Basil. In the other window, girls in Roma costumes are dancing. Greetings to all is the performance of the song “Vasilitsa”. It is sad that we cannot touch, touch, feel the true strength of the whey on our backs, but here are the smiles and the sincere desire of the children to show themselves, to express themselves, to be noticed by someone, to believe in them and give them more confidence and strength. This was done by HE Hero Mustafa. She answered all the questions of the young people, which they asked in brilliant English. He described how the Kurds, the minority to which they belong, celebrate the New Year on the Spring Solstice, March 22. The ambassador shared about the difficulties she went through to reach this post, about education, about her family. Her family emigrated to the United States without even knowing English and faced many difficulties, including material. But her parents supported her in acquiring higher education, which turned out to be the most important prerequisite for success. Asked if there were many female diplomats and Muslim ambassadors, Mustafa said democracy in the United States was strong but imperfect and that more women and more Muslims were needed to hold senior diplomatic posts. I believe that her words have reached every child in the audience, just as I believe that soon we will be able to be together and calm at school, at work, at the embassy, at home. The team of the Amalipe Center has once again shown that despite the hard days of a pandemic and restrictions, we live in modern, technological times and the bridges built in partnership with institutions and embassies will not collapse.
On the morning of January 14, we were “welcomed” at the Swiss Embassy from Ambassador Raymond Führer, together with our partners from Hristo Botev Primary School in Samuilovo and Captain Petar Parmakov Primary School in Gradets. The focus of the meeting was on the main mission of studying the folklore of ethnic groups, namely the knowledge of different cultures and peaceful coexistence between them. The students presented a theatrical performance of family coziness, a traditional Turkish dance and some of the legends about the salvation of the Roma from St. Vasil. In the end, the students from the Primary School in Gradets presented a traditional pie of good luck, inviting the ambassador to choose his luck in order to predict the coming year. Ambassador Raimund Führer withdrew his “health” and wished everyone a healthy and successful year. He also managed to surprise us by showing a specially made sign with the inscription “Bahtalo nevo bresh” at the end of the meeting.
Our long-term partners from Vasil Levski Primary School in Karadzhovo took part in the celebrations of Vasilitsa this year as well, visiting the British Embassy. The group on folklore of the ethnic groups led by Maya Zdravkova, with the assistance of the educational mediator Boycho Kochev prepared and presented a colorful program of musical rhythms, blessed wishes for health and prosperity, as well as traditional virtual ritual “survakane”. At the end of the meeting, the principal Krassimira Blagoeva presented the children with gifts sent especially for them by His Excellency Ambassador Rob Dixon, and he received from them handmade stained glass and the traditional calendar of the school. “What is a new year without New Year’s luck!? Here is our pie, and the ambassador was pleased with the success in his endeavors! The year of the British Embassy will be successful!”
The students from Otets Paisiy Primary School in the village of Ravna Gora congratulated for Vasilitsa the Ambassador of South Africa, HE Mr. Thabo Tahe. They wished the ambassador for health, prosperity, prosperity and happiness through the ritual survakane. The chairman of the Amalipe Center Deyan Kolev also congratulated His Excellency on the holiday and expressed his messages. HE Tahe thanked the students and the Amalipe Center, congratulated everyone on the holiday and said that he felt flattered that he had become part of this special day for children. He promised to visit the students in the village of Ravna Gora. The ambassador told the children about his life, said that he was born into a poor family, but he definitely wanted to study and thus overcome the difficulties he faced.
Also on Friday, the Embassy of Spain welcomed in the virtual room of the platform Zoom.us the talented students from two primary schools in the Stara Zagora region – First Primary School “St. Paisii Hilendarski”, Galabovo and Primary school “St. St. Cyril and Methodius ”, Cherna gora village. The Counselor for Cultural Affairs at the Embassy, Ms. Angeles Alastru, learned more about the customs and legends associated with the ethnocultural holiday Vasilitsa from the meeting leaders – the regional coordinator of the Amalipe Center for Stara Zagora, Galina Decheva and Chairman Deyan Kolev. By dancing and recreating the custom of decorating survaknitsa, the two schools brought the festive spirit of the Roma New Year to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Spain, truly delighting the representatives of the diplomatic mission in Bulgaria. To greet with the song “Wonderful Forest Flower”, Deyan Kolev explained that in fact the original song is in Romani and this is a popular Romani children’s song. Asked by the hosts, Ms. Alastru answered in how many other diplomatic missions she had participated and shared her impressions that each country is unique in its culture and at the same time we are all alike. Asked if she likes Bulgaria, she was happy to say that she finds many similarities with the Spanish people, but the main thing is the warmth and cordiality of the people in both countries. Ms. Alstroy did not hide her joy from the positive meeting and the mood she brought to all participants in the virtual “survakane” and wished everyone good health so that next year we can meet in person and truly immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of the holiday – Vasilitsa.
Through an online “visit” to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark of representative groups from the “N.Y. Vaptsarov” primary school, the village of Selanovtsi and the primary school “St. St. Cyril and Methodius ”, the village of Tarnene was congratulated on the holiday His Excellency Yes Brogord Nielsen. He looked with interest at the festive program of the two schools prepared with great diligence and professionalism and answered the numerous questions he received from the little curious people. The meeting was attended by Ms. G. Yancheva, Ms. B. Ruseva and the leaders of both groups. The meeting was opened personally by Deyan Kolev – Chairman of the Center “Amalipe” and moderated by the regional coordinator Yonka Danova. During the participation of the schools, the emphasis was on the tendency of the schools in the north-western region to show high success and increasing activity in various class and extracurricular forms. The long-term fruitful cooperation with the organization and the high professionalism of pedagogues and educational mediators was again pointed out as a merit.
The final of the holidays was set by the students from Highschool “Tsanko Bakalov Tserkovski”, Nikola Kozlevo, who “visited” online the Embassy of Belgium. Dressed in costumes at the festive table, they told what the holiday is about for them, how they celebrate it and greeted the embassy team with traditional wishes. Of course, they couldn’t miss the lucky pie, from which the embassy representative withdrew “Champagne Celebration!”.
Finally, we would like to wish all those involved, all those responsible in one way or another the events to happen and to each of you who are now reading this – be healthy, be good to yourself and others, fight for your dreams, but also to make our world a more peaceful place for all.
Happy New Year!
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Students greeted on the occasion of Vasilitsa institutions in Veliko Tarnovo