VILLAGE FESTIVALS
Every year on the third Sunday in May and October there will be an Eco-Day Festival, a one day event starting at 10am and often going into the night with a final concert. These festivals to celebrate the village’s ecovillage status as well as support for traditional Cypriot village lifestyle.
Village ladies display their hand-made and home-made products while Cypriot folk-dancers move to traditional melodies played live on accordian, violin and drum. You can buy olive bread, sweet or savoury cheese pastries, jars of preserved green walnut sweets, vinegar pickled capers, fresh squeezed lemonade, olive oil, and much, much more; as well, many different crafts from the weaver, the wood carver, the leather craftsman, the soapmaker and the magic fingers of the women will give you plenty of choice for practical momentos and gifts to take away.
Traditional activities are demonstrated throughout the day, like hellim cheese making, carob syrup making, broom tying, adobe mud brick making and more. There are also activities for children and donkey riding. Cycle tours take participants on easy exploring rides and guides take groups over some of our many nature trails. There is something for everybody!
Contact delcraft2000@hotmail.com for exact dates of festivals, accommodation reservations or more information.
NOTICE!
16 October, 2011, Sunday, is the date for the next Eco-Day Festival
Event News item:
‘Donkey Day: care information and fun’…… held at Delcraft on 13 February, 2011
Sunday, 13th February, was the first “Donkey Day” celebration, to honour the Cypriot donkey and its new role in ecotourism. Ismail Cemal of Delcraft completed a project funded with the European Union; he took 8 rural Cypriot youth to Europe to learn about how donkeys were treated and cared for there. This “Donkey Day”was a day of demonstrations and information on donkeys, learned from the study trips, how to care for them, how their hooves are trimmed and extra events, like ther show of ploughing with a donkey in the traditional way. There were rides on donkeys and donkey inspired handicrafts, pictures and T-shirts available for sale. A book on the basics of donkey care was available in Turkish and English free of charge to those who care and work with donkeys.
Just across the street from Delcraft, the weekly Sunday Markets offered visitors a variety of traditional foodstuffs, produce and crafts. Also open in the village were several family-run restaurants serving traditional Cypriot cuisine like home-made macaroni dishes and oven kebab.
A rough estimate of attendance was that over 2000 people came to Buyukkonuk for Donkey Day. It was an example of how ecotourism is a good model for sustainable rural development. Most importantly, the word is spreading about the role of donkeys in ecotourism and why we need to care for them to present a healthy, happy donkey to the tourist. Let’s hear it for the donkey!
Plans are to make the Donkey Day a regular event around Valentine’s Day every year!