Pupils from 4th primary school “Prof. John Atanasoff” in Sofia will visit, on April 18th, the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum (IEFSEM). They will learn about the main features of St. Lazar’s holiday – its place and meaning in the spring maiden ritual; about the various actions that make up the preparation and the actual feast; about the specific elements in the clothing of the lazarki; about the ritual jewelry and utensils used, etc. Children will learn all this from archival videos from different regions of the country which are stored at the National Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage at IEFSEM – BAS as well as from artifacts in the museum’s representative exposition. Having been collected for decades by researchers at the institute, they reflect both more ancient states of the traditions on St. Lazar’s Day and its practice today by various local communities in the country as well as the way to safeguard, protect and present the intangible cultural heritage.

The event is organized jointly by the Department of Anthropology of Folk Arts and Visual Forms and the National Center for Intangible Cultural Heritage and aims both to promote the knowledge of the traditional rituals on St. Lazar’s Day as well as to present the work of the scientist folklorist, anthropologist and ethnologist. The initiative is dedicated to the celebration of the 150th anniversary from the establishment of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.