TIRANA, June 21/ATA/ The ancient city of Apollonia became the center of the wheat festival this weekend, a tradition of the Fier municipality for several years.

Hundreds of citizens, but also foreign tourists became part of this festival along with dozens of farmers, wheat growers and bread makers. Apollonia area is located near the village of Pojan,

Young girls dressed in traditional clothing and with wheat crowns on their heads added more charm to this festival. The sounds of music accompanied the attendees as they sang and danced the folk dances of the area.

Mayor of Fier Armando Subashi was also present, promising that the tradition will go on.

The children were the most joyful part of the festival, while their parents took care to dress them in traditional folk clothing or even with the symbols and colors of wheat. The activities for them were diverse, while there was no shortage of family photos to put this day in the memory album.

The event carried a lot of nostalgia for the Fier community living abroad. Coming to their homeland for the holidays, many of them joined the wheat festival celebrations.

This unique activity brought the fresh products of the area, agricultural traditions and culinary values ​​inherited from generation to generation to the center of attention.

This festival also promoted the work of farmers and the wealth of local products. Part of the celebrations were also fairs with organic products, cultural and artistic activities, which created a festive atmosphere.

The wheat festival, with a history of almost 50 years in Myzeqe, brought everything back to the old days: bread and the newly-harvested wheat, the village threshing floor and mechanics, songs and dances, turkey-hen in baking cover and cold buttermilk.

A resident from Pojani said that, “For the Wheat Festival, Myzeqe women have created one of the most authentic and delicious culinary recipes for years: turkey-hen in baking cover. It accompanies the entire wheat harvest and threshing campaign. This recipe inherited from our grandmothers and mothers is cooked in almost every Myzeqe family that harvests wheat”.

Another resident said that, “This festival has already become a tradition in our area and is celebrated better and better every year. The festival today in Apolloni serves not only to promote local products, but also to promote tourism”.

A special place in the “Wheat Festival” was also occupied by the parade of combine harvesters, wheat harvesting vehicles, through which the farmers of this area both want to keep the tradition alive and increase the area of ​​land planted with wheat.

"Wheat Festival" is one of the largest festivals organized by the municipality of Fier in the framework of promoting the Myzeqe tradition. Held in June of each year and accompanied by festive rituals created over the centuries, this local festival now constitutes another added value of cultural tourism. /k.s/j.p/p.s./