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Traditional Festivals and Ethnographic Museums Along the Struma River Valley

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Traditional Festivals and Ethnographic Museums Along the Struma River Valley 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY, BLAGOEVGRAD DISTRICT, BULGARIA AND SERRES, GREECE file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 1/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY SERRES Sarakatsani In the recent past, the Sarakatsani were a semi-nomadic community primarily engaged with livestock breeding. The specific way of life, requiring the migration of flocks and finding of pastures in the mountains of Macedonia and Thrace in the spring and by the Aegean Sea in the autumn as well as the production of dairy products and fabrics, contributes to the creation of an interesting everyday, social, material and festive culture, artifacts from which we can see in the Sarakatsani Museum in Serres. The museum is located in a modern building designed specifically for that purpose which allows interesting exposition. The first exhibit you will see to the right of the entrance is the mobile tent known as tsiatoura, which the Sarakatsani use when they travel. It is simple to make it - two vertical and one horizontal post covered with waterproof fabric file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 2/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY made of goat's fur and sheep's wool. The indoor space is covered with colorful fabrics and household objects. A fireplace is displayed outside the tent: flat earthen baking dish with a lid covered with smoldering embers is put on a trivet. Another interesting exhibit is presented on the left side of tsiatoura - the guide of the caravan. Elderly people still remember how the Sarakatsani were passing by their villages in the spring or autumn. The whole caravan was led by a beautiful bride wearing her wedding dress and drawing all the attention to herself. And indeed this honor was given to the last married bride. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 3/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY We continue our walk in the museum and reach a restoration of a school built before 1930. Having a class is recreated in the classroom. Students are seated on their benches. In front of each of them is placed a small black board and chalk for writing, which allowed multiple use. You will also see notebooks, but they are just for writing the rules. The blackboard and the teacher are at the front. Some of the benches are empty and invite the curious visitor to join the class. We leave the school and continue to the next two exhibits that represent the part of Sarakatsani life related to animal breeding and dairy production. The large numbers of livestock required their division into herds consisting of five hundred head of stock. Each herd had two shepherds who inhabit small shepherds' huts. In the museum, you can see what the interior of the shepherd's hut looks like – a fireplace in the center and two mats on its both sides, and the scanty household objects are hung on the walls. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 4/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY The production of dairy products, used in the daily diet and also market- oriented, is at the heart of the Sarakatsani economy. For the milk processing, special rectangular chalets were built in which all necessary vessels and tools were stored. Bells are an important part of the Sarakatsani cattle breeding. Their use has a practical function as they serve as a sign for animals and for shepherds themselves. Animals, for example, could recognize the specific melody of the bells, and if one got lost, it was easy to find where the flock was. On one hand shepherds recognized the nuances of the herd's melody and, depending on whether it was calm or disturbing, could tell the condition of the animals. On file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 5/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY the other hand, the bells were a way of demonstrating prestige and musical taste because of the tonal melody coming from the combination of bronze and copper bells placed respectively on the goats and rams. In the central part of the first floor of the museum the family home is exposed. The interior of the main and largest room is covered with colorful rugs and carpets. At its ends, along the entire length of the walls, a bench is formed. In the center there is a fireplace, and there is a dining table next to it. To the right of the entrance there are wooden shelves for keeping the household dishes and bread. Above them is the home chapel with icons of the Virgin Mary and the saints, patrons of livestock breeding. The hut also has a special room where the loom is housed and the ready fabrics are stored. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 6/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY Please pay attention to the buildings' construction. They are made of lightweight wooden scaffolding with a hive, triangular or square shape, covered with wheat bundles in a way that allows upgrading. This construction makes the hut extremely waterproof. We continue the tour of the museum and we go upstairs on the second floor. We go left and immerse in everyday women's labor. The whole wool processing is presented through photos and exhibits. Pay attention to the straight and double wool carder, the hand spindles, the distaffs, the spinner and the niddy-noddy. These tools were used by women to scour the wool and turn it into bunches of unspun fibers, which then were spun manually into threads of varying thickness, depending on the fabric they would be used for. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 7/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 8/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY A presentation of weaving and fabric samples follows. In separate showcases, parts of Sarakatsani male and female clothing, ornaments, musical instruments, weapons, etc. are shown. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 9/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY The tour of the museum ends with display cases showing the magnificent wedding dress in the past, with samples of female Sarakatsani costumes from different parts of the Balkans, as well as festive men's and women's clothing. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 10/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY The Vlach Museum The Vlach Museum in Serres is located at the corner of Karaiskaki and Grigorio Rakitzi. The official opening was in 2008, but the idea of setting it up is much older. The implementation of the project began in 1994 with the purchase of land. In the following years the building was built and the interior was made. At the same time exhibits, photos and archives have been collected. It is impressive that all the exhibits are donated by the personal archives and property of the Vlach families in Serres and the region. Visiting the museum is free of charge upon prior request. The customs and traditions of the Vlachs are represented in an ethnographic exposition in two halls. In the first hall you will dive into the childhood of the Vlachs through the exposed toys which are small copies of the objects used by the adults - children’s looms, niddy-noddies, spinning wheels for girls; slings, musical instruments, small balls, spinning tops, improvised horses made of sticks for the boys and of course, little bones of a lamb's ankle performing the functions of the modern dice. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 11/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 12/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY The male activities of the Vlachs are outside and in the mountains. That is why they needed a well-kept and healthy livestock and a specific inventory. Next to the packsaddle and the saddle you will see the tools for horseshoe nailing, then sickles, axes, reaping-hooks ... Please pay attention to the bells which with their specific and unique clang turned the Vlachs herds into an orchestra. file:///C:/Users/user/Desktop/DELIVERABLES_BORDERLESS_CULTURE_01.12.2020/5.4.1_Cultural_routes/8.htm 13/34 2/12/2020 TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUMS ALONG THE STRUMA RIVER VALLEY The next showcase presents the woman in her traditional everyday role of spinner and weaver but female work was not limited only to those activities. Since in the recent past the household fabrics were made by women, they have mastered the whole process of wool processing to perfection: cleaning, shaping wool, thread spinning with distaff and spindle, or with a spinning wheel and a niddy-noddy, followed by the weaving of colorful rugs, carpets, blankets for the house or for their daughters‘ trousseau.
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