Living in a village named after the International Workers’ Day (also known as Labor Day and the Day of International Worker’s Solidarity- May 1) is no joke. And to be a resident of the village of Parvomaytsi (Gorna Oryahovitsa Municipality) is a real privilege. There is a plenty of fertile land in this Bulgarian region and nature favors the locals who live in harmony with it and enjoy the beautiful landscape along Yantra River. The village of Parvomaytsi was established in 1955 after the unification of the two villages Temnisko and Sergyuvets. The history of these villages dates back to the 12^th century. The first written evidence of the villages dates back to 1347 when Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander signed a document which mentions the existence of the villages in this place.

According to the local people, the period after the unification of the two villages was marked by an economic and social upsurge. Several public buildings and many new houses were built in Parvomaytsi. Many job positions were opened as well. Today, Parvomaytsi is the biggest village in Veliko Tarnovo district with a population of 2,600 people. The village has not been affected a lot by the demographic crisis. There is a primary school, a kindergarten and a library in Parvomaytsi. The village fair is marked forty days after Easter - on Ascension Day (Spasovden, which fall on May 17 in 2018). The village of Parvomaytsi has very rich festival activity. The autumn festivals are dedicated to the fertility rituals. We also hold a culinary festival during the village fair on Ascension, Teodora Minovska who works as a secretary at the local community center told radio Bulgaria and added:

“The culinary festival is dedicated to a local meal named razsol. We make this dish especially for the village fair on Spasovden. It is made of lamb meat. To make this meal you need to cut the lamb into portions. The meat is seasoned with paprika and other spices. We also add water and flour, cover it with tinfoil and bake it in an oven. This meal is very delicious and is made in our village only on big holidays and feasts. The autumn in Parvomaytsi comes with a big festival of the rural folk clubs. It is marked at the village community center. The festival is an opportunity for the smaller folklore clubs in Bulgaria to present at least one horo chain dance from Northern Bulgaria. An exhibition of belts for folk costumes from our region woven under an ancient technology is also part of the festival. Our folk dresses are white and have no embroidery on them. The skirts are also unicoloured. The belt is the only bright part of the folk costume. Unfortunately, no one remembers how these ancient belts are woven. That is why we invited last year the master in knitwear Marieta Nedkova from Sofia to show us models and schemes for their production.”

A lot of young people live in the village of Parvomaytsi. Many young families have recently settled in the village, because it offers good living conditions. The village is close to the large cities Gorna Oryahovitsa and Veliko Tarnovo. Life in the village is good, because people can grow their own fruit and vegetables in the house garden, Teodora Minovska went on to say. Horticulture has always been the main occupation of the people living in this area. Moreover, some gardeners from the village of Parvomaytsi who settled one century ago in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic created some of the most-beautiful gardens in these countries.

One of the books in the village community center is dedicated to horticulture. It is written by Angel Kapinski - a horticulturist from Parvomaytsi who departed to Vienna in the beginning of the 20^th century. He made a big garden in Austria which is cultivated even nowadays. Angel was a hereditary horticulturist. His grandfather departed to Romania at first. Then, his father and his uncles departed to Vienna and later took Angel with them. They created and cultivated gardens in the heart of Europe. In the beginning they started to grow vegetables. Angel Kapinski was even awarded by the Austrian government for his contribution to the development of this country’s horticulture, Teodora Minovska says. At the end of the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th centuries the Austrians did not know the subtleties of that profession. Angel Kapinski’s book describes in detail how the Bulgarian horticulturists made the innovations in this country’s horticulture. Although Angel had elementary education, he was a person with various interests and a gifted narrator. Angel was very interested in plant-growing. I really hope there will be a time when agriculture will revive again in our region. It has the potential to become the main occupation here, especially for the young and hard-working people.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov