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folk tradition of making carpets coloured with natural dyes has united Serbs and Bulgarians
in efforts to preserve their shared mountain environment - By Nelly Papazova
The man is Nikola Nikolov, and the place Chiprovtzi, a small town on the western slope of Stara Planina, Bulgarian for "Old Mountain." Nikolov, a chemistry teacher at the local school, says, "Here each house has a loom; each woman, no matter her other professions, is a carpet-weaver; each child grows up with the sight of carpet patterns and the smell of boiling herbs for colouring the wool. It is the wool, the herbal colours and the symbols that give the carpet healing power." For 20 years, Nikolov and his pupils have gathered bits of old folk wisdom about natural colouring. For the summer he asked them to find old recipes and in the winter his class experimented with them. The experience resulted in a book, Colours from Nature, a compilation of recipes and legends published in 2003. In June 2003, a three-day Bulgarian-Serbian festival was organised as part of the REC's transboundary activities on Western Stara Planina. It ran parallel to a roundtable of NGOs from both sides of the mountain who joined in the hope of preserving the natural environment and culture of the mountain. This is where Bilijana Ratomir from the Association for Preserving Carpet Weaving in Pirot discovered Colours from Nature, which has been translated into Serbian. Pirot, a Serbian town across the mountain from Chiprovtzi, is also renowned for its carpet school. "In Pirot the tradition of natural colouring is being forgotten due to automation," Ratomir explained. "I found this book and made many friends in Chiprovtzi. It gives me hope that the tradition will be revived." After the summer festival children as well as adults from Pirot and Chiprovtzi visited each other and exchanged tips on the colouring of wool and the weaving of carpets. The exchange was supported by a small grants programme financed by the REC's project. Ratomir also published a small catalogue of herbs and the colours derived from them. The project Transboundary Cooperation through Management of Shared Natural Resources was implemented by the REC within the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme for South Eastern Europe and financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The project aims to discover the threads that link people from different countries in the Balkans who share common natural environments and traditions. It gives opportunities for local people to share their knowledge, revive their traditions and make joint decisions on how to manage their shared forests, rivers and wildlife. West Stara Planina is one of three sites targeted by the project. The others are Shkoder Lake between Albania and the Republic of Montenegro, and the Neretva Delta, shared by Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Since 2001 the project has mobilised local efforts on a number of initiatives, including the designation of new protected areas, said the project's manager Mira Mileva. The project re-established transboundary dialogue and opened doors and minds at all levels, including those in governments, municipal authorities, small businesses, NGOs and schools, Mileva explained. Over 70 local activist groups received funding for cross-border initiatives. Local authorities and managers of protected areas received technical assistance. What is important, Mileva emphasised, is that the project enabled local people to transfer their experience and sustainable practices across borders -- something essential for overcoming the wounds of conflict and war in the troubled region. — Nelly Papazova is a project officer at the REC Country Office Bulgaria. For more information please contact mmileva@rec.org or visit www.rec.org/REC/Programs/REREP/Biodiversity |
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