(4 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kazanlak, Bulgaria – 2 June 2024
1. Various of dancers performing in national costumes
2. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Galina Stoyanova, mayor of Kazanlak:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
“The Rose Festival has its 121st anniversary this year. Every year, it is an emanation of the work of the rose oil producers, of the rose traders who preserve the national symbol – the Bulgarian Damascene rose. This year there will be special celebrations because the harvest was twice as good as last year.”
3. Group of tourists posing in the rose field
4. Tour guide demonstrating the centuries old process of extracting rose oil, using barrel and fire
5. Various of baskets of rose petals
6. Various of dancers dressed in national costumes performing with baskets filled with roses
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Kayla Whittaker, tourist from USA:
“I think it’s beautiful to see just how important the rose oil and the festival, just brings people into the culture, between the music and dance and even the food and things that are available, it’s really exciting just to get to share that culture.”
8. Dancers throwing petals
9. Tourists awaiting the start of the procession
10. Tourist smiling as she holds and smells Damascena rose flowers
11. Close of roses
STORYLINE:
Roses are the symbol of Bulgaria, and their home is the famous Rose Valley – a large swath of land squeezed between two mountains in the middle of the Balkan country.
Every year, the area hosts a festival dedicated to the flowers.
The joyous celebration is part of Kazanlak’s Festival of the Rose.
It marks the end of months of hard work where local people have been growing the flowers and producing precious rose oil, dubbed "liquid gold".
The valley is one of the world’s biggest production areas for rose oil.
The liquid extracted from Rosa Damascena, considered to be the best oil-bearing rose, is used as a base element in cosmetics and perfumery, as well as in the pharmaceutical industry all over the world.
The pink-colored roses have become the main means of livelihood for people in the valley, where rose cultivation dates back to the early 18th century, according to the local Institute of the Rose.
So it’s no wonder that they stage traditional dancing, with baskets brimming with rose petals, to celebrate the resource.
Fields planted with oil-bearing roses here currently cover some 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres).
Despite a warm spring that surprised the rose growers early in the year and spread fears that a sudden cold spell might ruin the prospects for a good harvest, the weather this time played in their favor.
“This year there will be special celebrations because the harvest was twice as good as last year,” says Galina Stoyanova, mayor of Kazanlak.
The spectacle attracts tourists from around the world.
“I think it’s beautiful to see just how important the rose oil and the festival, just brings people into the culture, between the music and dance and even the food and things that are available, it’s really exciting just to get to share that culture,” says Kayla Whittaker, a tourist from the USA.
The festival has become so popular that tourism is now another source of revenue.
It’s one of the biggest attractions in the region.
“Some 6,000 participants will join the festive procession, while the number of guests will be in the tens of thousands. Every year after the COVID pandemic we see tourism getting back to normal. This year we expect to see a record number of 100,000 tourists from all corners of the world,” says Stoyanova.
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