site.bta Gabrovo Region Nominates Master Candymaker for Living Human Treasures

Master candymaker Boyan Minchev will represent Gabrovo Region in the national competition of the Living Human Treasures programme, said the Gabrovo Regional Administration. He was nominated by the Etar Regional Ethnographic Open Air Museum. "Through our work we are guardians of the craft and we need to preserve it. It has been practiced by people who are already of advanced age, and we must leave the craft as an intangible legacy to those who come after us," Minchev pointed out.

He is the successor of the Bulgarian confectioners, who in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century began to practice the craft in Gabrovo, after studying it in Romania. In the second half of the 19th century, there were five masters in Gabrovo, and candy-making was considered the most modern and young craft.

Minchev began his training in the trade in the confectioner's workshop of the Etar Open Air Museum, where his grandfather and uncle had worked. He is a third-generation candy maker and religiously continues to make all his products by hand. "I was fired up next to my grandfather. As I build my candy habits, I realized that this is a debt we have to take on. We must pass on this heritage because of the masters before us, and since I became a father I think that this must be passed on to the next generations," Minchev stressed.

He noted that this craft has been in his family for over 45 years, and for close to 19 years he has been making sweets according to recipes passed down from older generations. He believes that the subtleties of his work are difficult to digest. His family is very traditional and that's why he was an apprentice for 10 years, then a journeyman for two years and finally became a master after passing an exam. "The craft energizes me and gives me a lot of pleasure, especially when I get feedback from people. I remember how the children's eyes light up when we give them a sugar rooster," he emphasised, adding that traditions and folklore have accompanied him throughout his life.

The Living Human Treasures - Bulgaria, which is part of the Living Human Treasures UNESCO programme, is organized by the Culture Ministry and encourages the bearers of intangible cultural heritage to practice the activities and pass on knowledge and skills to the next generations. The programme is carried out in two stages - regional and national. The activities or skills offered for registration must be from the spheres of manifestation of the intangible cultural heritage, according to the National Register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.