At the Ethnographic Museum, seventh-graders from PS “N. Y. Vaptsarov” restored the “Trunka” custom that had been forgotten for more than 100 years.
“Trunka” was part of the spring ritual calendar of the traps in Dryanovets, popular in the village in the years before the First World War, and now, today, we are doing it for the first time”, says the ethnographer and deputy director of the Regional History Museum in Razgrad Daniela Gancheva.
Guided by the “living human treasure” Nikolinka Angelova, the lazarkas chose their “kumichka” and decorated a branch of thistle with popcorn, beads and ribbons, placed in a pitcher. “The thistle with its thorns “repels” demons, evil forces, badness. And the pitcher is a symbol of the masculine and feminine”, explains Daniela Gancheva.
Arranged in a semicircle in front of the “kumichka” sitting on a trap cushion, they sang a special song with marriage characters and danced a horo with a wish for a good future, a successful marriage, held together by strength, love and many children.
On a whim, the “kumichka” of the house gave them a white raw egg to paint on Holy Thursday and a silver coin for good luck.
