Creative Bread-baking Task poses the challenge of solving the following practice-oriented task – to find out recipes for baking ritual breads, which are used in some Danube countries, for the purpose of presenting our common European roots before a relevant audience, developing European awareness and diminishing of the existing prejudices.
The implementation of the task is divided into several main activities which are described and performed in pairs or in groups of three. These activities are as follows:
• To research and find out main celebrations common to the Danube countries which use ritual breads.
• To find the recipes for these breads.
• To conduct a comparative analysis of the recipes and identify the differences and similarities with the Bulgarian ritual breads.
• To experiment with the selected recipes by adding an ‘original’ or a ‘personal’ touch to them.
• To describe the final, personalized recipes.
• To translate the recipes from Bulgarian into English and German.
• To prepare brochures with the recipes and photos of the respective breads.
• To bake the ritual breads using the recipes in the brochures.
• To organize the presentation of the breads before a relevant international audience.
• To evaluate the implementation of the creative task.

The main objectives of the touring poster exhibitions are:
• Large scale advertising of regional, national and international activities under the projects “The Tastes of Danube: Bread, Wine, Herbs”; “The Tastes of Danube: Bread Connects”. The participants are pensioners and their partners – children, parents, leaders, policy makers, teachers at universities and schools, business leaders, representatives of special centers, NGO’s in Bulgaria and abroad.
• Stimulating the generation of ideas and the social creativity of pensioners in organizing and participating in many new ideas about the “bread” which connects people.
• Motivating a large number of people in preserving European cultural and historical heritage.
• Supporting the acquisition of new knowledge, communication and cooperation skills, as well as skills related to voluntary work.

An example of a good practice
The Union of Pensioners of Slivo Pole municipality makes posters documenting events which are organized and conducted by several pensioner clubs. Each poster shows only one event and contains: the title of the event, the venue, and good quality photos which reflect the most important moments of this event. The posters are made in such way that they can be displayed anywhere and can be easily stored for future use.
The University of Ruse makes large posters which provide information about the results of international projects related to the teaching and training of adults and young people.
The Union of Pensioners makes posters which illustrate the successful events organized by the pensioner clubs of the region.
The posters are used in several ways:

1. As independent exhibitions
   During the 2018-2019 period, all posters travelled and stayed for two weeks in each of the 20 clubs of the Union of Pensioners in Slivo Pole, Brashlen, Borisovo, Babovo, Ryahovo, Golyamo Vranovo, Malko Vranovo, Kosharna, Yudelnik, and Chereshovo.
2. As accompanying events
   The posters travel and are used as accompanying components of large scale events or events of great regional, national or international importance. They are displayed at appropriate locations so as to achieve the planned objectives. Such events are, for instance:
   • International Danube Festival, Ulm, Germany.
   • Annual Festival “Talent has no age”, Ruse, Bulgaria, with more than 500 participants
   • Celebration of 15th anniversary of the Union of Pensioners, of Slivo Pole municipality
   • Visit of the delegation of the Baden-Wuertemberg Staatsministerium, Germany
   • Festival “Colorful Dance”
   • Celebration of the International Day of Pensioners in the municipality of Slivo Pole
   • International meeting under the project “Open doors for Danube countries for all”
   • International meeting under the project “Building Bridges for Europe”
   • International Workshop “Education and Voluntary Work in the Third Age. New perspectives in Bulgaria, Romania and Germany”, Ruse
3. As Poster exhibitions in public places as for example the City Hall of Ruse; the Theatre House of Ruse; Haus der Begegnung of Ulm, Germany.

This educational method is based on the baking initiative Danube sparrow of the Danube-Networkers in Ulm 2019 with the motto “Bread Sharing is Caring”. The main goal of this action is to share the Sparrows as a symbol of common European values and the necessity of joint activities for preserving peace in Europe.

An examples of a good practice.
The Union of Pensioners (UP) of the Municipality of Slivo Pole developed this action to an educational method of learning, communicating and cooperating. The main aims of the method was to give possibilities to the participants for:
• Disseminating information about the organization and its clubs.
• Building strong cooperation with local business and other organizations.
• Developing cross-border communication and cooperation with partners from Danube countries.
• Intercultural, intergenerational learning.
• Preserving the ethnic peace in the Municipality and peace in Europe.
The leaders of UP developed a working plan for organizing a cross-border meeting GIVE А HAND OF FRIENDSHIP TO NATIONS ALONG THE DANUBE: CULTURAL TREASURES OF EUROPE – BULGARIA – GERMANY – ROMANIA.
On 10 and 12 November 2019 in Chereshovo, the building of a new leading team of UP was organized by 2 groups of 27 women which included the president of UP, the presidents and active members of 11 Clubs of Pensioners, and the secretary of the Community Center “N. Y. Vaptsarov – 1927”, Babovo. Each of these two groups had a discussion on the goals and the expected results of the baking action, details of the preparing of the sparrows, and the different stages of that process. Every member of the groups had to go through all the stages.
The organizing committee prepared special Letters of Invitation and delivered them to more than 100 persons. The event team purchased gift wrappings, ribbons with the flag of the EU, paper flags of the EU, and paper flags of the European countries to wrap the baked sparrows.
A scenario of the cross-border meeting for sharing the Danube sparrows was developed. It was applied on 13 November 2019 in the Tour Information Centre, Brashlen, Bulgaria. It included:
• Opening ceremony – the speech of the President of UP, folklore songs as a welcome performance;
• Presenting the guests. Brief presentation of the project Bread Connects. Congratulation to Mr. Valentin Atanasov, the Mayor of the Slivo Pole Municipality, for his successful second term election.
• Congratulatory address to the pensioners by the Mayor of the Municipality to the pensioners.
• Presenting of the new bread action “Bread sharing is caring” by Mrs. Carmen Stadelhofer, President of ILEU and DANET.
• Sharing Danube sparrows with the guests, representatives of different organizations such as the Municipality, Local Government, mayor offices, production and agricultural companies, schools and kindergartens, specialized centres and organizations from different Danube countries with the words “I give you my hand for friendship” by members of the clubs of pensioners. Every pensioner had to briefly present themselves, the organization they belonged to and their main area of interests as the grounds for future cooperation.
• A background slideshow demonstrating the preparing of the Danube Sparrows.
• Closing the Cross-Border Meeting with wishes to the guests to share their experience with their workers, colleagues, and families.
• Visiting the exhibition and tasting some of 23 bread products prepared by the pensioners.
As continuation of this international event, Mrs. Stadelhofer gave three sparrows from the event in Slivo Pole to international groups from France, Italy and Serbia inviting them to join this initiative.

National customs have undergone numerous ups and downs in the history of each nation. Some of them have disappeared forever, others have preserved their initial format and meaning, whereas yet others have been modified. National customs are the source of the entire cultural tradition of the European peoples. They are the essence of the national and European self-awareness and identity. National customs are the factor that preserves the European spirit through the vicissitudes of time.
National customs are closely related to the past, religion, social relationships, mythology and the geographic specificities. Each custom consists of rites and rituals, has its pivotal points and its symbolism. Among the big variety of customs, there are some which are essential for the training, education and the upbringing of the younger generations.
These are the reasons for recreating the old custom the “Road of Bread” from the region of Dobrudzha, known as the wheat house of Bulgaria.
On 9th May 2019, in the Culture House of the village of Brashlen, members of the pensioner clubs recreated the road of bread in olden times. Pensioners from the villages of Babovo, Ryahovo and Brashlen performed four sketches:
• Sowing the wheat.
• Harvesting the wheat
• Making the first bread and sharing it by the water spring of the village. Pieces of bread are given by the village girls to the young men they like as a symbol of acceptance and implicit agreement to marry them.
• Getting engaged – the parents of the young girl and young man that have shared the first bread a year ago meet to discuss their engagement and prepare the wedding.

Bread is a main element in the folklore culture of all ethnic groups in Bulgaria.
The method Presenting Ethnic Baking Traditions is based on the idea that the baking and sharing of bread typical for the specific ethnic group in a community, turns into a symbol of caring for their neighbors, friends, and colleagues.
The method includes:
• Interesting activities, which stimulate comparison and identifying of common characteristics of their lifestyle, of the customs and traditions of the different ethnic groups in the municipality;
• acquisition of more detailed knowledge about the other ethnic groups in the municipality;
• formation of skills aimed at understanding and accepting diversity;
• formation of skills for communicating and cooperating without prejudices and stereotypes;
• involving the politicians of the local parliament in the activities of the community;
• presenting the practical results of the above activities.
An example of good practice is the initiation of an annual exhibition of bread and bread products by the Union pf Pensioners. In 2018, the motto of the exhibition was ‘’Give a sign of friendship of the ethnic groups from Slivo Pole Municipality and the Danube countries’’.
The ethnic groups residing in the municipality are Bulgarians, Turkish people, Roma, Tatars, Gagauz people, and Armenians.
The main tasks for the participants are: choice of a recipe, baking and presenting a bread or a bread product that is typical for the respective ethnic group of the municipality and that is used in celebrations, rituals or other events specific for that ethnos.
The participating products are displayed in the Slivo Pole restaurant and are viewed by both the participants and the exhibition visitors of various ages.
Each participant presents the story behind their product, the social events when it is used, its functions in the respective event, and the meaning of the symbols on it.

The main objectives of the educational theatre are:
• Acquisition of new knowledge needed in the educational process and for the socialization of each learner;
• Development of study, social and communicative skills;
• Development of European self-awareness and embracing public values as for example tolerance and acceptance of others;
• Formation of a mindset which allows the learners to analyze their own behavior and enables motivation and the modelling of effective behavioral strategies aimed at preserving the cultural heritage of the region, the traditions of multicultural communication, as well as the overcoming of prejudices and stereotypes.

An example for a good practice:
Actors from the Union of Pensioners, High School St. Paisiy Hlendarski of Slivo Pole, Secondary school St. St. Cyril and Methodius of Ryahovo, Secondary school Ivan Vazov of Golyamo Vranovo, the Community Center N. Y. Vaptsarov – 1927 of Babovo, Slivo Pole Municipality, organized an educational theatre themed Easter traditions and performed two sketches:
• Making a gift of ‘kozunak’ (special Easter bread)
• Selection of the best dyed Easter egg (known as ‘borak’)

The creation of an educational theatre in a community is a process which develops identity, values, beliefs and attitude that determine the place and role of anindividual in the society he or she lives in.
The educational theatre in Slivo Pole municipality was used as a method to achieve the following objectives:
• Deepening people’s knowledge of the regional and European intangible cultural heritage such as Easter traditions.
• Stimulating the the participants’ interest in Easter traditions.
• Developing European self-awareness.
• Developing skills aimed at performing and preserving the local Easter traditions as an integral part of European culture.
Easter traditions are rich in activities and symbols which effectively perform educational, social, and religious functions. They must be preserved either in their authentic form or modified in the course of time following the changes in the lifestyle of the respective community, nation or region.

The regional competition is an educational and specific skill-oriented event with abundant prizes and certificates. The personal benefits of such kind of competitions are the opportunities to:
 perform individually before a relevant local audience;
 demonstrate practical skills, knowledge, creativity, and competences;
 improve collaboration with neighbours and friends;
 develop social and emotional skills such as collaborating with widely differing personalities, dealing with conflicting opinions and ideas, and better evaluation of risks
 increase one’s motivation for active ageing;
 handle stressful, competitive situations;
 encourage and reward creative thinking.

An example of good practice
On 10 April, 2018, the Creative Regional Bread Competition (CR-BC) was held in the City Hall of the Municipality of Slivo Pole. 21 elderly participants from the pensioner clubs of the town of Slivo Pole and the villages of Babovo, Borisovo and Ryahovo, presented creative ideas about “their” Europe, prepared as bread products.
A jury consisting of representatives of the local government, the International Association DANET e.V., the St. P. Hilendarskij secondary school and the Inspectorate of Education of the Ministry of Education of Bulgaria selected 8 winners.
On 3 April 2018, the competition was held in the High School of Tourism, Ruse. Theere were 7 winners (see the Method – International Creative Bread Competition).
On 14 April 2018, other competitions, as parts of CR-BC, were held in Ruse Municipality, Vetovo Municipality and Ivanovo Municipality with 47 participants. The juries selected 28 winners.
The total number of the competition winners from the Ruse Region was 43. They were selected out of 79 contributions of bread products from many European countries, which most impressively represented the idea of Europe in different ways.

1. Danube – the River of Friendship in United Europe (Y. Dimova);
2. The Happy Children of Europe (P. Marinova);
3. The Sun Happily Shines All Over Europe (G. Kovacheva);
4. The Flowers of Europe (Y. Angelova);
5. United Europe – Family Tree (P. Stoyanova);
6. United Europe – represented in the form of an ivy twig encompassing the whole Europe (S. Vasileva);
7. Brilliant Stars – a symbol of the States in the EU (V. Draganova);
8. Тhe Inhabitants of the European Union Are Numerous as the Crumbs of Bread (S. Kadanova);
9. With Love (R. Abrasheva);
10. Friendship;
11. A Sun and 12 Stars;
12. Danube Countries;
13. The Hands of European Children;
14. Easter (R. Angelova);
15. EU Cake (E. Mihaylova);
16. Bread, the Danube River (M. Stefanova);
17. Nesrin’s Bread (N. Solakova);
18. European Flag (I. Yalamova);
19. European Children (M. Yosifova);
20. Europuzzle (E. Petrova);
21. The Future of Europe (M. Todorova);
22. Bread Fruitiness (T. Georgieva, G. Koleva);
23. Bulgarian Flag – EU Flag (P. Mariova);
24. EURO (P. Marinova);
25. Chickens as a Symbol of Real Life (V. Lisitsova);
26. European Basket (S. Marinova);
27. Christmas Bread (I. Kateva);
28. Map of Bulgaria (K. Marinova);
29. European Flag;
30. Tricolored Cake with Stars;
31. Europe from Grandmother and Grandchild;
32. Bulgaria – the 27th Star of the EU;
33. Easter in One European Home (V. Velikova);
34. EU Bread (D. Radeva);
35. Bulgarian Bread (Z. Tsvetkova);
36. Let’s Keep the European Bread (S. Dekova).
    There were also 7 high school winners.
    All the photos of the winning breads were presented at the International Creative Baking Competition in Ulm, 2018.
    12 of them were included in the Bread Exhibition.

Bread is so much more than just a basic food. For many centuries, bread has been a symbol of communion and sharing in almost every culture and religion in Europe. Since bread connects people in so many ways, then ILEU e.V. and DANET e.V. organised in 2018 the International creative baking competition “Create and Bake “your” Europe!” within the project „Tastes of Danube: Bread Connects“.
The main aim of this method was to provide opportunities for participants of all ages and from different countries:
 to express their thoughts, feelings, ideas and visions for Europe;
 to understand the importance of united Europe;
 to demonstrate their creativity;
 to develop their professional, research and presentation skills, and
 to further their knowledge about Europe.
There were no limits to the fantasy of every participant or of every group of participants. Their baked goods could be sweet or salty, colourful or decorated with seeds, etc. The idea of every bread product had to be described. Every preparation of a creative bread product had to be documented by photos.
The main prize was a trip to the International Danube Festival in Ulm, Germany.
A jury selected 7 photos of the students’ baked products out of 79 contributions of baked goods which most impressively represented the idea of Europe in different ways.

An example of a good practice
On 3rd April 2018, 63 school students from the HST, took part in a school baking competition which continued for 2 hours. 7 students were selected as local winners by a jury of teachers and students.
In the next stage of the competition which was held on 10th April 2018, the 7 winners demonstrated innovative ideas of “their” Europe.
A European tree with 28 sweet gold-yellow biscuits in blue stars, inverse to the EU flag, as a symbol of united people in the EU, was prepared by S. Atanasova.
The composition United Europe of B. Konova presented six of the most famous breads of six European countries: the pretzel of Germany, waffles of Belgium, pizzas of Italy, croissants of France, furnaces of Romania, and banitsas of Bulgaria.
S. Simeonov presented Cake International which was prepared with recipes from Bulgaria, France, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden. The cake used salt and sugar to symbolize the problems and success of the EU in the joint activities of all EU countries.
After in-depth research, E. Kircheva had prepared a German-Bulgarian Bread with 12 stars to represent the 12 countries, co-founders of the European Union, two wheats – a symbol of cooperation between Germany and Bulgaria, and the map of Bulgaria – a symbol of the fact that our country also plays an important role in the EU.
Other creative ideas were a loaf of bread named Germany – Bulgaria, baked by E. Ivanova, a cake named Germany – European Union of T. Kadir and a Cake O of H. Kolev.
The students Beloslava Konova with the composition United Europe and Siyana Atanasova with her European Tree were selected as the winners of this local competition by a jury of teachers, representatives of DANET e.V. and of the local community.
All the 7 winning baked products were included in the International creative competition with the products of other winners from Romania, Poland, Serbia, Germany at the Festival in Ulm, 12-15 July 2018. The winning Bulgarian products were included in the book illustrating the competition.

Bread is so much more than just a basic food. For many centuries, bread has been a symbol for community and sharing in almost
every culture and religion in Europe. Since bread connects people in so many ways, then ILEU e.V. and DANET e.V. organised the International creative baking competition Create and Bake “your” Europe! (IC-BC) within the project Tastes of Danube: Bread Connects.
The main aim of this method is to give the participants of all ages and from different countries the possibility:
 to express their thoughts, feelings, ideas and visions for Europe;
 to understand the importance of a united Europe;
 to support the performance of personal creative abilities as part of life’s realization;
 to develop their knowledge about Europe.
The main task for the participants is to use some sort of dough, to be creative and to realize their creative view of Europe in the shaped of bread. There are no limits to the fantasy of every participant or of every group of participants. Their baked creations can be sweet or not, colourful or decorated with seeds, etc. The idea of every bread product has to be described and the preparation of the creative bread product has to be documented by photos.
The main prize was a trip for one or two people to the International Danube Festival. There were equivalent prizes for winners from the region of Ulm, a special prize for school classes and material prizes as well.
A jury has chosen 28 photos out of the 79 contributions of baked goods which most impressively represented the idea of Europe in different ways.

There are two examples of good practices.
Example 1.
63 students from the High School of Tourism Ivan P. Pavlov, course Baker, Ruse, Bulgaria, took part in a school baking competition. In the last stage of the competition, 7 students demonstrated innovative ideas of “their” Europe and became the school winners. The baking products of these students were included in the International Creative Competition and in a book about the competition. Two of them (European tree; United Europe) were winners.

Example 2.
56 elderly people from Ruse and Silistra regions took part in a national baking competition. The winners with 37 bread products (9 from Slivo Pole Municipality; 11 from Ruse Municipality; 12 from Ivanovo Municipality; 3 from Vetovo Municipality; 1 from Silistra region) took part in IC-BC. 11 of them were winners. The titles were: The sun happily shines all over Europe; Danube – the river of friendship in the united Europe; United Europe – family tree; European flag; As numerous as bread crumbs; Chickens as a symbol of life; European basket; Christmas bread; Euro-puzzle; European round loaf; Easter in one European home.

There are many valuable characteristics of the quizzes as an interactive method of teaching and learning.
• They are educational tools that help with concentration, identify gaps in learners’ knowledge, build confidence and help seniors and children retain information.
• They are fun and a stress-free way to learn.
• They help people to learn and retain information.
• The quizzes present information from a different perspective. Looking at things from a different angle often contributes to a better understanding.
• Playing quizzes makes individuals feel good and enthusiastic to play more. The more often they play, the more they learn.
• The quizzes build confidence.
• They develop learners’ thinking and their ability to quickly recall the information required to answer the quiz questions.
• Quizzes stimulate the individuals to participate in social activities.
Quizzes are more effective when:
• The theme is closer to the participants like the quiz “No one is bigger than bread”.
• The quiz involves competition among a large number of people.
• The quiz participants represent various age groups such as seniors, students, and children, which contributes to intergenerational learning.

Some of the quiz questions are:
• What do we call the vast Dobrudzha plain? (a plain in the northeast of Bulgaria)
• What stages does bread go through from sowing the wheat to the table?
• What seeds is flour made from?
• What are the main ingredients for making bread?
• How many sieves are used to sift flour for ritual bread?
• Why isn’t ritual bread cut but broken?
• What ornaments do we decorate ritual bread with and what do they symbolize?
• Which holidays do we make ritual breads for?
• What are the ritual breads for Christmas Eve and Christmas?
• Easter ritual breads – what shape do they have and how do they taste?
• What are the patterns and inscriptions decorating the ritual bread for St. George’s Day?
• What are the names of the ceremonial breads for St. George’s Day?
• What is the shape of the ritual bread for Forgiveness Day?

There are innumerable superstitions about bread because people know that “No one is bigger than bread” and “Bread is bigger than the King“.

Some of the quiz superstitions are:
• We should never throw away bread because it is considered a sin and can bring bad luck to the home.
• Do not tear/ drop/ crush bread on the floor /! – Collect the crumbs in handfuls and throw them for the birds to eat – a symbol of the dead.
• Bread is a gift of God – it is not cut with a knife but is broken with your hands. The belief is that bread has a soul.
• No bread should be served on a knife or fork because it is bad luck.
• If you dream of bread, something very good will happen to you.
• Bread is cut from one side only – to keep the riches at home.
• Bread is not cut on both sides – it is bad luck!
• The ends of the bread are the luck of the home and should be eaten by the owners of the house.
• Bread must not be turned upside down. The symbolism behind it is the lack of money or disease.
• Don’t leave bread on the ground or bad events will occur!
• For luck and fortune, sprinkle the first and last bite with salt!
• Do not eat bread in bed – crumbs in bed will bring you nightmares!
• To pass bread between friends, from hand to hand – means that you wish them a long and healthy life !