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

261-271

Authors: V. Kachev

This collection contains six poems. All of them are written by Valentin Kachev in December 2016. Valentin Kachev is from the town of Belogradchik. He is a member both of the Union of the Bulgarian Writers and of the Union of the Russian Writers.

283-331

Authors: F. Stefanova Strigacheva

"Pages from the past" are recollections written in 1970's by Ferdinanda - Venka Stefanova Strigacheva (1897-1976). A large period of time after 1910 is covered. She was born in the village of Targovishte, Belogradchik region. She graduated from the Secondary School for Girls in Vidin. Then she became a teacher. Later she studied agronomy in Wien and Berlin. Ferdinanda Strigacheva was an active and influential communist. However, when the communists became in power in Bulgaria in the autumn of 1944, she left aside from the policy disappointed from the actions of the Bulgarian Communist Party; nevertheless, Strigacheva kept her loyalty to the Party and beliefs into the communism. Strigacheva's son Dr. Atanas Strigachev and his son Dr. Anton Strigachev prepared the text for publishing, mainly with changing the spelling into the modern one.

359-375

Authors: E. Kozhuharova

The 15th Infantry Lom Regiment was founded in 1889. It is included in the 6th Bdin Division until its disbandment in 1945. The combat flag of the regiment leads the brave Lom soldiers in five wars – Serbian-Bulgarian War (1885), Balkan Wars (1912-1913), World War I (1915-1918) and World War II (1941-1945). This article aims to present the nominations for military awards of the combat flag, as well as the already awarded decorations, enlisted in the service book of the flag. The details of saving and recapturing the combat flag during the capture of 15th Lom Regiment after the World War I, for which it was decorated, were described as well as the name of the recipients. The Award Decorations list of the flag is presented in full text as well as the motives for awarding the flag with military bravery order.

390-399

Authors: B.V. Toshev

A collection of rare books about Belogradcjik

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.

5-11

Authors: V. Kachev

In 1922-1924, after the end of the Civil war in Russia, the White Army came in Bulgaria from Gallipoli. The famous Markov regiment occupied the empty barracks of the former 15th Lom Infantry Regiment in Belogradchik. In the next years some of the officers and soldiers of that Russian regiment remained in Belogradchik and Bulgaria and Bulgarians were so kind to shelter them. The new poem by Valentin Kachev is devoted to the Belogradchik “belogvardejci” [white soldiers].

68-89

Authors: S. J. Ayodabo

Ola Rotimi Kurunmi has generally been classified as a tragedy, historical play, postcolonial text, satire etc. Such general classifications have limited the analyses of the play to thematic thoughts such as cultural clash, postcolonial disillusionment, and its understanding as an emblem of the Greek dramatic tradition. For this reason, this paper examines the issue of traditionalism in the play centering on the faithfulness of the writer in utilizing actual historical materials and personalities of the 19th century Yoruba war between Ijaye and Ibadan armies (in Nigeria) and its implication on the general sensibility of the society. The paper examines the role of the major character of the play, Kurunmi, as a traditionalist and how his display of epic heroism helps produce resounding themes of socio-cultural relevance. It argues that a conscious reading of the personalities, attributes, and egos of Kurunmi as a traditionalist would make the reader have the privilege of having a real sense of the complex nature of Kurunmi character rather than seeing him as a prototype of a Greek tragic hero.

121-127

Authors: B. V. Toshev

This slim book contains 11 legends about Belogradchik and its vicinity and people. The book is illustrated. The author of the book is Stefan Strigachev (1935-2000). Additionally, the text of the book is exhilarated by several clever rhymes written also by the author.