site.btaForty Countries Present Culture, Crafts at International Festival in Oreshak

May 3 (BTA) - Forty
countries from three continents are participating in the
International Festival of Crafts and Arts within the National
Exhibition of Arts and Crafts in the village of Oreshak, Troyan
Municipality, from May 3 to 5. The festival's motto is "United
in Diversity", the Director of the National Exhibition of Arts
and Crafts, Ivan Chakurov, told BTA on Friday.
          
Visitors can experience the culture and art of Bulgaria, Russia,
 Poland, Japan, China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Iran,
Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Morocco, Algeria, and Palestine, among
others.
         
What is different about this year's edition of the festival is
that many of the participants have representatives from their
respective countries, and not just from their respective
embassies, Chakurov said.

In addition to an exhibition and demonstration of various crafts
 typical of their respective cultural traditions, the
participating countries offer music and dance performances as
well as traditional cuisine. Visitors can try dishes from
Russia, India, China, the United Arab Emirates, Palestine, and
Morocco. Russian, Chinese, Indian, and Bulgarian ensembles will
make music and dance performances, Chakurov explained.

Iran's exhibition is part of the festival for the first time.
Palestine participates with a new exhibition of artefacts and
costumes. Japan presents origami, kiri-e, and pixel art. Six
Chinese craftsmen from Ningbo demonstrate wood-carving with
gilding, embroidery with golden and silver threads, and dough
figurine making. Poland offers a workshop on decorative
paper-cutting. Visitors can also dress in Indian sarees, try the
 art of henna, attend a Moroccan tea ceremony, and experience
Turkish ebru art and the Serbian art of making mirrors, Chakurov
 said.

RY/DS