A tight calendar of events which includes visual and performing arts, parades and even an Albanian products fair have been scheduled in Tirana
TIRANA, March 13 – Tirana and Elbasan will be the main hosts of festivities on March 14, when Albania celebrates the Summer Day, a pagan festival which this year marks a decade as a national holiday.
A tight calendar of events which includes visual and performing arts, parades and even an Albanian products fair have been scheduled in Tirana. Flowers will decorate the capital’s city central boulevard and the festival’s traditional cake, the Ballokume, be served to visitors.
An Albanian products fair called “Buy Albanian” will bring together Albanian companies from Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and the Presevo Valley in Tirana’s pedestrian area in an effort to promote the sale of Albanian products.
Weather forecasts show Friday, March 7, will be a sunny day, which is good news for dozens of thousands of visitors to Tirana and Elbasan.
Last year’s celebrations were marred by heavy rains which cancelled a series of scheduled open air events.
While thousands of people rush to Elbasan, where the holiday originates, celebrations in Tirana are becoming ever bigger since Summer Day was announced a national holiday.
Ratified by the Albanian Parliament in 2004 as an official and national holiday, this day of pagan celebration symbolizes the rebirth of nature, the awakening from a long dark winter and a general rejuvenation of one’s spirit. The celebration of Summer Day dates back to ancient times in the city of Elbasan, which due in part to its location in the geographic center of the country, was considered the umbilical city for all of Albania. According to an Albanian legend, the Mountain Muse, who was the goddess of hunting, forests, and all things related to nature, would usher in summer by coming out of her temple on the 14th of March.
The Municipality of Elbasan has also announced a tight calendar of event to commemorate Summer Day.
