Koprivshtica, “Sedenka”

Sedenka is a gathering of women for the purpose of sharing songs, dances while doing handiwork – sowing, knitting, food preparation. After finishing the harvests in the late summer, young women and men gathered in the evenings to gossip, court each other and sing.
The two women on the sedenka are sitting here on the grass, resting from vigorous dance performances. They have come to the Koprivshtica folklore festival to represent their village through dance, and to celebrate Bulgaria’s rich and multiethnic folklore tradition. The town hosts some 18,000 performers and international audience every five years. The Koprivshtica Festival is Europe’s most brilliantly eccentric festival that started in 1965, and today continues to celebrate the nation’s wealth of village music-making and dance.