Some Aspects of Everyday Hygiene of Christians and Sunni Muslims in Bulgaria – ‘Clash’ of Two Religious and Cultural Systems
Some Aspects of Everyday Hygiene of Christians and Sunni Muslims in Bulgaria – ‘Clash’ of Two Religious and Cultural Systems

Summary/Abstract: The concept of hygiene of any society is one of the most important indications that emphasizes its ethnic and/or religious affiliation, regardless of the stage of historical development. Centuries of coexistence between Christians and Muslims in Bulgarian lands determines their continuous interaction in all areas of folk culture. This study however, presents those aspects of hygiene in which they are completely different and even contradict each other. On one hand, this is the role of hygiene as ethnic-differentiating and confessional feature that puts visible and conditional boundaries between ‘own’ and ‘foreign’. On the other hand, it is the role of hygiene as worldview idea. The chronological frames of the investigated period covering the end of the 19th − mid 20th century with the range of investigation only the rural areas.

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