Folkcraft festival organised in southern locality of Moldova

Chisinau, 27 May /MOLDPRES/ – Dozens of popular craftsmen participate today at festival "iProsop", held for third time in Selemet village, Cimislia district. The event aims to recall tradition of hand – woven towel and promote domestic towels.

The programme of festival included exhibitions with sale of towels, handicrafts and national culinary specialties, master classes presented by popular creators, artistic programmes.

The event is organised by Mayor's office of Selemet and Migrant Families Association, in partnership with US Agency for International Development, Swedish Government, Ministry of Education, Culture and Research (MECC), Diaspora Relations Office, with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

According to Cimislia origin citizen, Olga Coptu, Director of Diaspora office, which initiated and led iProsop Festival in 2015, such an action is necessary, as recently this craft, which involves a lot of patience and attention, is lost. "We chose towel as an attraction to bring to knowledge of world the beauty of things long forgotten in trunk of grandmother. Through Festival "iProsop" we aim to feed beauty of people, authentic values, as well as facilitate entrepreneurial opportunities for promoting national culture," said Olga Coptu.

"The southern treasure is very rich and diverse. Composed of elements of folklore, gastronomy, crafts and established traditions, it deserves to be promoted and exploited through a festival such as iProsop. I urge all the Moldovan youth, those being here, but also those which left not to forget traditions, values, customs, because this traditional towel unites us in our sense and sentiment. This national element participates in most important moments in a man's life – from birth to death," said Mayor of Selemet village, Tatiana Badan.

The Selemet Festival brought together folk craftsmen, folk ensembles of Moldova and abroad, emerald artists, representatives of ethnic communities in southern part of Moldova – Gagauz, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and others. The guests of event have opportunity to admire variety of towels exhibited in museum collections or personal collections. One can also get traditional towels, with the ability to track the manual weaving process.

The crafts are available to public in an improvised outdoor house. The techniques of weaving are shared by experts from the National Museum of History and Ethnography of Moldova, as well as by Ana Cotruta from Selemet, who keeps the local weaving art.

The traditional dishes from south of Moldova are featured in iProsop Gastronomic Theatre, and for those which are passionate about sports, there are organised: races, rabbits and cocks, weightlifting competitions, tables, chess, dominoes, etc..

The event takes place under aegis of Tree of Life brand and #fosoftheroostle campaign.

(Reporter L. Grubii, editor A. Raileanu)