As already mentioned, one of our great passions is to travel.
To a large extent, this is also related to our work, because during all our travels we find inspiration, we discover priceless exhibits that later serve us to make our clothes, and we also get to know interesting people and their stories.
Such is our first journey in our series "Hunters of Needlework".
Early morning, somewhere around 06:30, 07:00 in the morning. Sofia is all bathed in mysticism and morning dew. Very sleepy, but full of positive expectations, we take the road of the vast to Ikhtiman and its surrounding villages. The places we had to visit are Kostenets village, Kostenets town, Dolna Banya, Momin Prohod, Gorna Vasilitsa, Pchelin, Podgorie, Ochusha, Ikhtiman, Zhivkovo, Paunovo.
Naturally, the whole team are music lovers, so we had to choose a suitable musical arrangement to accompany us during our journey. In this case, it was the album of Ivan Shopov and Avigeya - "Kanatitsa", which 100% contributed to the atmosphere of the experiences on the road.
So imperceptibly, with a song in our mouths and telling funny jokes, we find ourselves in the village of Kostenets, which was our first stop on the designated route for the hunt for shevitch.
As soon as we arrived at 8:00 in the morning, we noticed that the village was buzzing with life. It turned out that Tuesday was market day, and traditionally, household and agricultural goods were displayed in the square to help the residents. There was everything from brooms, to hoes and wheelbarrows, to flower seeds, vegetables and the favorite boiled corn. Smiling people everywhere, diversity. 
Against the background of the pretty village and this scene of idyll, tower majestic peaks, still festooned with white snow caps.
We head to the community center, where the smiling secretary - Nadezhda Bekyarova, welcomes us behind the heavy wooden doors, embellished with beautiful carvings.
As soon as we entered, she received us in the storeroom, where all the costumes of the village's dance ensemble and singing choir were hidden neatly on hangers. Although they all turned out to be tailor-made for different dances and occasions, she told us that they were all made from authentic patterns, some of which were over 150 years old. He also told us that our trip has a great idea, but the Ikhtiman region is not famous for the variety of Bulgarian needlework. It tells us that here is one of the centers of our country, in which hand-embroidered laces are honored, but this, of course, should not discourage us.
In sweet words, made even sweeter by the treat of a delicious cake, we left the community center and headed to Kostenski Waterfall. This is one of the places we would highly recommend if you ever want to take a break from the city environment to the sound of falling water. The place itself is quite inviting, with benches and gazebos surrounding the falls adding to the sense of relaxation and idyll that permeates the air.
Naturally, we did not miss the nearby chapel, which offers a magnificent view of Kostenets and the surrounding mountains. We were captivated by the view and the influx of people who came just to enjoy the sun.
Our route continued to the village of Momin Prohod, where we had been warned that there was a tent. Contrary to all our expectations that we should be looking for an old dilapidated house, the weaving workshop turned out to be in the center of the village, in the community center building.
There we again came across smiling people who had taken up another local tradition, namely - writing eggs. The custom itself has been preserved in these places for several centuries. The special technique and precise craftsmanship of these small works of art begins long before our commonly accepted preparatory days for dyeing the eggs. In this case, they are written while they are still white, after which they are dyed in color.
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With great precision, the people in the workshop inscribed beautiful details on the colored eggs. Behind them quietly rested two huge looms where all the magic of weaving takes place. The walls were covered with colorful rugs, small embroidered bags for good luck and fortune, woven belts and beautiful cushion covers, each with hand-embroidered lace, embroidery and embroidery.
The more we listened to the stories of this radiant group of people about writing eggs, the more we found similarities with embroidery:
Just as each embroidery is unique and a precise message with a specific meaning is encoded in it, so in the writing of the eggs specific symbols are placed, having a given purpose.
Just as embroideries are distributed by regions bearing common marks, so written eggs can be recognized by the end in which they are made.
Just as we all know that the generally accepted days for dyeing eggs are Thursday and Saturday, so there is an ancient belief among embroiderers that the best days to begin a new embroidery are Monday and Thursday. The superstition also says that before it begins, the girl ties a red thread and crosses herself so that nothing bad is woven during the vezmoto.
Before the advent of chemical dyes, both egg dyeing and yarn dyeing used natural dyes. More about the colors in Bulgarian embroidery and their symbolism.
In both traditions, there are corresponding interpretations of the origin, as once they exist with pagan roots, once they are connected to the Christian religion.
Both resemble a letter in general, telling a story.
We left the village of Momin Prohod very excited, but also quite thoughtful, because there we realized how multi-layered, large-scale and responsible our mission is.
Until then, there were several options for its specific definition, but from that moment on, we firmly decided that the best of them was precisely #Keeper of Tradition .
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