Pentecost Mackerel Festival to kick off on Friday

The Fishermen's Village on the outskirts of the city of Tulcea will host the Scrumbii de Rusalii (Pentecost Mackerel) Festival, starting Friday, organised by the Tulcea City Hall, with the first scheduled activities being dedicated to children and aimed at raising awareness on the importance of environmental protection.

Festival coordinator Bogdan Moldoveanu told AGERPRES that the event will open with a photography exhibition and the presentation of the Restoriver Project by the Romanian Ornithological Society (SOR), along with a workshop by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) showcasing the renaturation results of the Carasuhat area in the Danube Delta.

'SOR will also organise a mini-expedition called ‘Zaghen Explorers' around the renatured area on the outskirts of the city. During the expedition, participants will use binoculars to observe and identify bird species in the area,' Moldoveanu added.

Concerts for the public will begin at 8:00 PM each evening. On the first night, Zagan and Taraful de la Marsa will perform, with musical events hosted by Hanno Hofer, frontman of the band Nightlosers.

Saturday's activities will resume at 12:00 PM and include carriage rides, culinary workshops, sensory education sessions for both children and adults, cookbook launches and segments dedicated to tourism and entrepreneurship featuring guests from Bulgaria, Iulia Bahovski and Anelia Hristova. The evening will conclude with performances by Tiptil, Raul Kusak & Vali Racila.

Iulia Bahovski, born in Romania and raised in Bulgaria, is a journalist, translator, and founder of the online editorial project #connectingRomaniaandBulgaria, which tells stories about places, traditions and people in both countries. In 2024, she was named 'Ambassador of the Mavrud Grape Variety' by the Bulgarian Association of Wine Professionals (BAWP). Anelia Hristova, CEO of Wine Adventures and coordinator of the Wine Tours North-East Bulgaria programme, is an event organiser and active promoter of wines from northeastern Bulgaria. She creates maps and wine tours that bring wine closer to tourists, according to the festival's website scrumbiiderusalii.ro.

On Sunday, workshops will continue, and festival guests will be invited to a stand-up paddle tour in the Delta and to attend a gastronomic conference titled "Sarmale: Si Romanesti!" (Cabbage rolls: ALSO Romanian!), led by Cezar Ioan and Cosmin Dragomir.

The festival will end with concerts by Sabin Penea & Alexandru Stoica and Nightlosers.

According to Alexandru Filip, manager of the Tulcea Tourism Destination Management Organisation (OMD), a new free guided walking tour of the city's historic area will begin Friday at 5:00 PM. During the same period, Tulcea is hosting an info trip to promote the area.

'All these initiatives are part of a long-term effort by OMD Tulcea, under the brand ‘Tu si Tulcea' (You and Tulcea), to turn the city's potential into a solid tourism reality,' Filip wrote Friday on social media.

OMD Tulcea entered the Danube Delta last year into the "Destination of the Year 2025" competition and won the grand prize, having earned the highest score in the 'Enchanted Lands' category.

The mackerel, a fish species living in the Black Sea and migrating up the Danube to spawn, is the only species that can be legally caught by commercial fishermen during the fishing ban, which is set to end on Sunday, June 8, according to an ordinance from the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to expert Gabriel Lupu from the Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, the species Palingenia longicauda, commonly known as "rusalii" in Romanian or "mayflies" in English, is one of the oldest winged insects in the world, an indicator of environmental quality, and a food source for one of the most valuable fish families in the world, sturgeons. It also symbolises efforts to protect freshwater ecosystems in Central Europe.

The larvae of these insects develop underwater for nearly three years. In their adult stage, which lasts only a few hours to a day, they mate and lay eggs, the only visible activities they engage in, including in the Danube Delta.

The Romanian term 'Rusalii' (Pentecost in English) also is also the name of a religious holiday celebrated by Orthodox Christians 50 days after Easter. In Romania, Sunday, June 9 is a public holiday for employees of state institutions, according to current legislation.