Fairytales and legends from both banks of Nistru River, in one book

June 21, 2018

Photo: KLumea

Have you heard of Stima Nistrului, or a love story of Laur and Teia, or the legend about the origins of Tirnauca village? Twenty fairytales and legends collected in the communities of Holercani, a village on the right bank, and Tirnauca, a village on the left bank, were published in a book entitled Fairytales and Legends from across the Nistru. Its publication was enabled owing to a financial support offered by the European Union through the Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme implemented by the UNDP.

The book Fairytales and Legends from across the Nistru is an initiative of Klumea NGO, and the stories were collected namely from the older community members, but also from teachers and librarians from both villages.

“We wanted to ‘rescue’ the unwritten heritage. While we were collecting these stories, we realized that, in fact, nothing but the Nistru separates us, and the rest is just in our minds,” mentioned Nata Albot, a co-founder of Klumea.

The stories were collected by the journalists Elena Briciuc from Chisinau and Inna Kireeva from Tiraspol. The book was illustrated by Ana Grigorovscaia.

“We have travelled dozens of kilometres and established contacts with many valuable people. I think the stories we collected will be enough to publish two more books, at least. It was challenging for me to select just ten out of thirty stories collected in Holercani, because this was the plan,” tells Elena Briciuc, the journalist who collected fairy tales in Holercani.

“No doubt, working on this book is one of the best projects I have ever been involved in, especially owing to the wonderful people I’ve met,” adds Inna Kireeva, the journalist who collected fairy tales in Tirnauca.        

The presentation of this book was memorable. Six celebrities were invited to read a fairy tale or a legend, both in Romanian and in Russian, as the book is edited.

“Leafing through this book, I recalled the stories I heard from old people. This is exactly why I decided to read the ‘Hidden Girls’ legend at this book presentation. I realized once again how talented our people are,” says Tamara Berzoi.

The stories were presented by Andrei Porubin, Alina Andronache, Pasha Parfeni, Natalia Morari and Yolka Fliman.

The book will be distributed for free in Holercani and Tirnauca, to the National Library, as well as to 20 communities where kindergartens, schools, social centers or houses of culture were renovated with the support of the European Union through the Confidence Building Measures Programme.

The Fairytales and Legends from across the Nistru book was edited by Klumea under a project implemented in partnership with the Mayoralty of Holercani and the local administration of Tirnauca (left bank of the Nistru). This is one of the 30 partnerships funded by the European Union through the Support to Confidence Building Measures Programme implemented by the UNDP, with the aim to improve cooperation relations between the two banks of the Nistru river.

Fairytales and legends from both banks of Nistru River, in one book