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cover letter
cover letter
After a full year of journalism, this project accurately portrays what I’ve learned. One area that has gotten better throughout the year was the content. Human interest is one of the things that drives readers to read your article and at the beginning of the year my articles were fine but a bit bland; now my content is much more interesting and outside of the box. Also novelty is another common reason to read an article and in this case this was the first year the Rosa festival was in Billerica and this was the first time it’s happening since covid. My interviewing skills have definitely gotten better due to being more comfortable to ask for an interview or asking follow-up questions. Also developing my questions pre-interview has also improved so that it’s more open ended questions rather than yes or no. Lastly this project follows journalists ethics; i didn’t plagiarize, interview my family, or cause any harm. This year through journalism it taught me to be more descriptive in my writing and how to know if what you’re writing is worth telling.
Opening statement:
The Rosa festival is a Bulgarian tradition and it celebrates the harvest of the rose in Kuzanluk. The festival has dancers that dance traditional Bulgarian folklore dances and people pick rose petals. After this, there would be a parade through the streets where rose petals were thrown everywhere. The Rosa festival here is a bit different; it’s not quite as big and extravagant as it is in Bulgaria but many components do stay the same. The organizers of this festival are originally from Kuzanluk and they brought it here as a way to bring everyone together in a fun way.
On Sunday, June 5th in the Bulgarian center in Billerica the celebration of the harvest of the Rose was back. After a two-year break due to covid, the Rosa festival was finally able to happen and bring everyone together again. This festival first began in Bulgaria in a town called Kazanlak where many of the roses were planted. Bulgaria is the world’s leading producer of Rose oil-producing about 80% of the world’s supply. “A few families from Kazanlak came to get her to celebrate the Rosa festival here because we all missed it and we wanted to share it with the people here” Said Mira Teneva.
A newly owned Bulgarian center of New England opened in Billerica and this was the fliers year the Rosa festival was there. About 120 people showed up to dance, talk, eat, and have fun. This year marked the 11th annual Rosa festival since bringing it to the US. There were many adults, teenagers, and toddlers. The festival is also a sort of fundraiser to bring people and money to help out the Bulgarian center; this included huge raffle prizes like a PS5!
Once most people have arrived the pope comes out and says a prayer and christens the food. He does this by spraying the food with water for good luck and fortune. After this the food is open and people get in line to get their food served.
After the food is blessed a wide variety of Bulgarian food opens up: kyufte(burger), krenvers(hot dog) salad, beans, and wafers. The food was as good as homemade with cooks in the building making everything and even a barbeque that made hot burgers and hotdogs. There were many volunteers that gave up their time to serve food during most of the festival; people were always coming back for seconds and thirds!
Once most people were finished eating, dancers came out and danced traditional Bulgarian dances; most of the dancers were parents that additionally knew the Bulgarian dancers although for this dance the dancers did prepare and practice. The dance is very simple but it speeds up throughout the dance making it more difficult and it often involves a slow then quick step/movement.
After the official Bulgarian dances wrapped up, many parents wanted to get in on the fun. If you’ve been to any Bulgarian event there’s always this specific dance called horo. In the dance, one person is the leader and everyone holds hands and it forms a circle but there’s still a leader so the circle isn’t complete. The dance goes that everyone skips forward a few steps(3-5 steps) then they cross their legs and go backward (2-3 steps) and this continues until the song is over; the music that is played is very upbeat and loud.
Although this event may seem very adult themed it’s not. One of the main things in the festival is an arts and crafts competition for the younger kids; this could be made with paint, colored pencils, and/or any other art supplies. The top 3 contenders win a prize and here you can see the winner of the whole competition receive his prize.
When the event organizers were questioned “what’s the point of the Rosa Festival” tsvetelina Gabin said, “Getting people together and teaching the young where their parents and grandparents are from.” This festival has been happening in Bulgaria since 1952 and we hope that it’ll continue here for many years to come.
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