VENETS: the Belogradchik journal for local history, cultural heritave and folk studies

133-138

Authors: R. Pankova - Karadjova

This is a non-fiction story about a grandmother teaching her six-year-old granddaughter how to knit. The child helps to wind the yarn into a ball and then patiently follows her granny's instructions, making stitch after stitch. The little girl's work is often uneven and is gently corrected. However, the small piece the child had knitted is used to patch up a tear in her grandfather's woolen glove. The lesson in knitting is transformed into a lesson in appreciation of one's work, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem. The narrative is permeated with the love between the grandmother and the child, who is the writer of the story.

185-211

Authors: M. Karamihova

This article discusses the heritage re-establishment during a gourmet festival. Fieldwork data (2007-2015) have shown that unlike other new gourmet festi-vals in Bulgaria the Gardeners’ soup festival serves to be achieved several very different goals: First of all this is an important part of pre-election campaigns for local authorities and for Parliament. Second – this festival strengthens local identity and integrates different ethnic and religious groups inhabiting the small town nowadays. Despite it was pronounced as gourmet festival and was introduced as a part of local strategy for development of tourism the ethnog-raphy shows that main actors do not promote it as touristic attraction. Thereby Gardeners’ soup festival is not stereotypic small-town festival.

248-255

Authors: B. V. Toshev

Two stone slabs, one with Bulgarian inscription, were above the main entrance of the Belogradchik fortress. The Bulgarian label was first described by Skorpil (1892). Many years later this inscription was republished by Vankov (1946). Unfortunately, this stone plate was lost. There a short information for it in Do-brevski’s book from 1934.

332-341

Authors: R. Silaghi-Dumitrescu

The ballad of the Little Ewe is generally noted as one of the distinctive features of the Romanian culture. Its facts are simple and few, if any: a little ewe warns its shepherd that his two associates intend to kill him for his possessions. The discussion that follows between the shepherd and the ewe is what draws attention – in that there is no mention whatsoever on any precise plans to resist the foretold murder; instead, the shepherd cares to provide instructions for things to happen after his death, in a particularly long lyrical monologue. This latter attitude has prompted many critics to label it as fatalism – and wide cultural implications have been claimed on that account – going to the point where public requests have been made to dismiss the ballad from public conscience as toxic. Discussing the text, we argue here that any such fatalism has to do with the eye of the respective critic – and that if indeed toxicity and eradication need to be mentioned, they would at best be associated with the respective critics rather than with the ballad itself.