FOCUS News Agency talks with Tatiana Tsankova, director of the House of Humour and Satire about in humor and satire, and the importance of laughter in times of crisis on the occasion of the April Fools' Day or also known as International Day of humor, jokes and lies


FOCUS: Mrs. Tsankova, what does April Fools' Day means?
Tatiana Tsankova: April 1st is International Day of humor and joke – of the whacking bid lie. Hardly the emphasis is primarily on lies, although the popular belief today is that you have to send someone on a wild goose chase. For us Bulgarians every day is April 1, because we are constantly being sent on a wild goose chase.

FOCUS: How will be marked April 1 at the House of Humour and Satire?
Tatiana Tsankova: What I will say now is not a lie and the truth, due to the fact that on April 1 the House of Humor celebrates its 40th birthday, it's still a decent age, so we decided to make the Open Day and Night of the Museums, and to present a varied program with many exhibitions, concerts, holiday entertainment, karaoke, comedy, animation movies etc. so like Gabrovo buffoon Kerkata, said "It has a beginning but no end," Gabrovo and visitors should know that even after midnight the doors of the museum would be opened for visitors, they are welcome. We have organized a varied program including some impressive exhibitions.

FOCUS: Why humor in Bulgaria is associated with Gabrovo?
Tatiana Tsankova: First, from here begin the famous Gabrovo jokes, jokes about thrifty Gabrovo citizens- even in the 30s of last century these jokes spread throughout metropolitan and regional print editions and have already started to work for the glory of the town. Then in the 60s appears the "Carnival" and has since started its chronology. After that in 1965 Gabrovo jokes again began to print but this time as Gabrovo jokes collection. This collection has over 43 publications in different languages, so Gabrovo became known around the world. When in 1972 the House of Humor was born, that further legitimized the mythology for Goabrovo as a city of thrifty people. Ultimately, even by looking at the Dictionary of "Gabrovian" as the first meaning of the word says "resident of Gabrovo" secondary meaning as it says "frugal, very frugal person, but not a miser," there is little difference. Gabrovo citizens are frugal people; they say that even when they become wealthy manufacturers, they have continued their old lifestyle, notoriously frugal.

FOCUS: How important is humor and satire in a crisis in which we live?
Tatiana Tsankova: Humor is very important for several reasons. First in order to fall into crisis, there is guilty. Creators of comic art, cartoonists - that is the popular criticism of the public perception, which can sometimes affect even the judicial institutions because public opinion is important because it can change attitudes in politics and those who form policies in one country. When things do not go, and if I am a politician of high rank, the first thing I would do in the morning is to see newspapers and sites to see what cartoons are painted for me because that way I will set my clock on how people understand my policy, what people do not like, criticize what they want and what to do, so it is very important to develop and be given carte blanche to this art. One of the greatest politicians such as Charles de Gaulle, who is a politician era, did exactly that, he was collected and examined these things to see if people love or not him. This is a constructive criticism. Humor and satire are important at any time, because they show how a country is democratic, how does that art is accessible to people.
Humor and satire is a sort of vent, when the people feel grave - in years of crisis, they began to create jokes, then began a rise of caricature. Today there is no newspaper in Bulgaria, which does not have it its editorial team a cartoonist.