On June 7-9 at the Center for Eastern Languages and Cultures at Sofia University Days of Eastern Arts and Spirituality were held. The event was organized under the project "Perception of Eastern Spirituality in Europe", funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action, Horizon 2020, European Commission, Grant No. 753561. Organisers were Assoc. Prof. Dr. Antoaneta Nikolova, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Leipzig, Germany as well as Departments of "Chinese studies", "Classical East", "Japanese Studies", trans-departmental specialty "South, East and Southeast Asia" at the Centre for Eastern Languages and Cultures, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and Haiku Club “Sofia”.

The event was rich and interesting. During the first day, a series of workshops, meditations, demonstrations and performances were held under the title "Art and Meditation". This includes: Hridyakasha Dharana Meditation lead by Gergana Zaharieva, Bulgarian Yoga Association; "On One Breath ..." Workshop on Japanese Drawing Techniques with Detelina Tiholova;  Dynamic Meditation of the Five Elements with Zvezdomira Georgieva, Konstantin Kuchev;  Workshop in Chinese calligraphy and painting with Zhang Kaiyue and Silvi Velev; Reading of Chinese poetry in original and translations by students in "Chinese studies" moderating by Assist. Prof. Vesselin Karastosthev, PhD, Presentation of a Chinese Tea Ceremony with Tsvetelina Nedyalkova, PhD student; Short presentation and demonstration of the puppet theatre of Rajasthan with Dr. Rumyana Damyanova ;  Creation of sand mandala as art and meditation, performed by Lora Todorova, yoga lecturer; Drawing with henna-mahendi with Dr. Mona Kaushik; Workshop "Yoga of Femininity" lead by Stella Sachi-Sundari Hristova;  Exhibition and workshop in Persian calligraphy presented by students; Drawing with henna of verses by Persian classics, moderating by PhD student Macha Nourai;  Kanzashi - The Art of Beauty. Workshop for Japanese jewellery; Ikebana Workshop and Exposition performed by Ikebana Association "Kagetsu"; Workshop with angklung (traditional Indonesian instrument);  Workshop on Indonesian Dance;  workshop for pronunciation and writing of tones in the Vietnamese language.

There were a number of exhibitions in the halls and lobbies: Exhibition of students’ photos from China, India and Iran; Students’ Photo exhibitions "Vietnam and Indonesia"; "The Way of the Wind" - a calligraphic interpretation of haiku, author: Alexander Telalim,; "On One Breath ...", Japanese-style paintings, author: Detelina Tiholova; Exhibition of Chinese Painting, author Silvi Velev; "Cycle: spring, summer, autumn, winter" – photo haiku and haiga, author: Zornitsa Harizanova, BHU; Classic haiga, author: Venelina Petkova,; Charity exhibition-bazaar of cherry blossoms made of fabric by the Japanese technique tsumami zaiku by Krassimira Ileva and authors from the Bulgarian Haiku Union (BHU); "The Tree of Desire",  Author: Venelina Petkova, BHU; Demonstration of temari, author: Antonina Karalambeva

The day ended with a concert program that included: Musical improvisations on Indian musical instruments performed by Konstantin Kuchev.; Chinese poetry; Vietnamese song and dance;  Songs and poems inspired by the East, author: Kerry Keys, USA / Lithuania; Indian dances performed by Katia Tosheva, Kaya Dance School; Aria of Liu from Act I of the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, Dilyana Georgieva; Haiku recitation of participants in the Haiku Conference and Haiku Club "Sofia"; Dance performance by the group at the Indonesian Embassy; The Magic of Indian Sari - a review of students dressed in Indian Saris; Presentation of Chinese national costumes – a review of students dressed in Chinese national clothing.

On the second day, an International Haiku Conference „Haiku: Western Perception of Eastern Spirituality“ was held. The day ended with the results of a free-style haiku contest.

The third day was dedicated to ginko - walking in nature and writing haiku.
In this issue of the e-journal we offer materials from the conference, as well as a touch on some of the artistic performances of the Days of Eastern Art and Spirituality. Some of the materials are a joint publication with the journal “Haiku World”.