European Association of Folklore Festivals - EAFF assisted in the overall organization of the "The Thracians and the Wine" scientific seminar. The president of the European Association of Folklore Festivals, Kaloyan Nikolov, took part in the seminar, and presented the topic "Celebrations and customs related to the cult of wine from ancient times to the present day".

The forum was held in the period February 24 - 26, 2023. on the occasion of February 14 (Day of the Archaeologist, Day of Vintners and Winemakers and Tryphon Zarezan). In 2023, the event took place for the seventh time in six consecutive years, and this year was held in a hybrid form – in person and virtually.

Lecturers were also: Ch. assistant Prof. Anton Genov (South-West University Neofit Rilski) - "Wine and feasts in some historical sources concerning the Thracians - Anthropological analysis and parallels", and Eli Filipova (doctoral student at the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Center for Thracology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) - "Food habits of the Thracians in the 1st millennium".

Highlights of the topics presented were: the Thracian culture, the eating habits of the Thracians and the holidays and customs related to the cult of wine from ancient times to the present day.

On the first day of the seminar - 24.02.2023, after arriving in the town of Melnik at 15:00 o'clock, activities related to the presentation and digital video conversion of traditional dishes and wines from Melnik and the region were carried out by a team of EAFF specialists, with the chairman Mr. Kaloyan Nikolov; team from Eurofolk TV; Vesela Georgieva (member of the executive committee of National Scientific Expedition Club - UNESCO and main organizer of the seminar "The Thracians and the Wine") and Tony Nikolov (organizer of the scientific seminar).

On 25.02.2023 at 11:00 o'clock, the official opening of the scientific seminar "The Thracians and the Wine" took place, which was attended by official guests consisting of: mayor deputy of the Municipality of Sandanski - Mrs. Karadjova, the mayor of the town of Melnik - Mr. Sasho Filipov, Dr. Plamena Zayachka, advisor to the Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Plamen Mitov - manager of the "Bulgari" restaurant, prof. Vladimir Penchev - Director of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore with Ethnographic Museum at BAS (IEFEM - BAS), Prof. Galina Bogdanova - Chair of the Organizing Committee of the Scientific Interdisciplinary Seminar and Network "Information Society" at IMI-BAS, Dr. Kalina Sotirova-Valkova - secretary of the "SOFTIS" section at IMI-BAS, Mr. Kaloyan Nikolov - chairman of the European Association of Folklore Festivals (EAFF), Mr. Anton Kovachev - Director of the Archaeological Museum in Sandanski, Mr. Kristiyan Kalchev - Chairman of National Scientific Expedition Club - UNESCO and Mr. Georgi Galabov - Deputy chairman of National Scientific Expedition Club - UNESCO, as well as the main organizer of the event - Mrs. Vesela Georgieva, who was the moderator in the lecture part of the seminar.

In the time range from 14:30 to 15:30, a Round Table was held on the topic "Digitalization and accessibility of the Thracian cultural heritage", together with the Interdisciplinary Scientific Network and the "Information Society" seminar, with the presenter: Prof. Galina Bogdanova from IMI-BAS.

In addition to the activities with direct participation in the seminar, the organizers and hosts provided the guests with a rich cultural program, visits to museums and cultural heritage sites in the town and the region, as well as wine visits and tastings.

All planned activities for the implementation of the scientific seminar were successfully completed.