site.btaRose Picking Ritual Marks End of 120th Rose Festival of Kazanlak
The rose picking ritual in the gardens near Kazanlak marked the last day of the 120th Rose Festival on Sunday.
The official guests include President Rumen Radev and his wife Dessislava Radeva, Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov and deputy ministers, MPs, Kazanlak Mayor Galina Stoyanova, Regional Governor Ivan Cholakov, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, ambassadors, and delegations from Kazanlak's twin towns.
The event was attended by the participants in the 18th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media organized by BTA, which was held in Kazanlak.
The guests were welcomed by Kazanlak Municipality with rose garlands, one of the emblems of the celebration. After the roses are picked early in the morning, they are strung on a thread, 70 blossoms to the garland.
Roses are picked before sunrise. Picking must be completed by 9 a.m. because the concentration of essential oil in the blossom is highest from 4 to 8 a.m. when the dew is heaviest.
Songs are sung in the rose garden and the girls compete to see who can pick the most blossoms. Once the rose picking is over, the owner collects the harvest and pays the pickers. The blossom is weighed and the best picker leads a chain dance in the field.
As soon as the harvest is in, the copper vats are filled with the fresh rose blossom and water. It takes between 3 and 3.5 tonnes of rose blossom to produce one kilo of rose oil. The first distillate, rose water, is boiled once again to get the thick rose oil.
After the ritual, the Rose Festival of Kazanlak continues with the largest carnival procession in Bulgaria, which is expected to attract about 10,000 people.
/DD/
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