Roundup: Albania celebrates Summer Day

Albanians celebrated Summer Day festival on Monday as a symbol of the end of the winter and the rebirth of nature.

The city of Elbasan, center of Albania, where the origin of this festival starts, celebrated today from the early hours, welcoming hundreds of visitors from all Albanian regions. The Municipality had prepared various activities and visitors can buy "ballakume", the traditional sweet that is made especially for this day.

The Mayor of Elbasan, Qazim Sejdini expressed the wishes and declared that " Summer day has now become a national celebration. The festive activities began several days ago in Elbasan and yesterday evening we celebrated the festival of summer night."

Celebrations of this festival also organized in the capital Tirana. The Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, wished a happy Summer Day to the children who gathered in the city center to participate in the activities.

This national festival celebrations were also held in other Albania cities like Fier, where the city hall held a concert in the main square, and organized fair of traditional Albanian food.

In the city of Korca, the celebrations culminated with a midnight bonfire, a ritual that symbolizes the removal of evil. In Lezha, the activities began with planting flowers in the city center and later a festive concert was held in the city and in the city of Vlora, the mayor and the citizens planted hundreds of tulips.

Summer Day is one of the largest pagan festivals in Albania. It is annually celebrated on March 14 and it gathers thousands of visitors to watch the concerts and carnivals.

This festival origins are tracked to the temple of the Mountain Muse, the goddess of hunting, forests and nature and she would come out of her temple only on March 14, which marked the beginning of the summer. Endit