Курбанът - културна специфика и наследство
Kurban – Cultural Feature and Heritage

Summary/Abstract: The text, a result from a field observation in the town of Assenovgrad, is a story about events that give specific cultural image of a community and also are connected with the images of the town. These events are Kurban Bayram (Assenovgrad) and “prayer for rain” (the village of Muldava, Assenovgrad region). The story traces the preparation and realization of Kurban Bayram festival in a Turkish family that consists of three generations. The presence of the researchers is also pointed, their position in the conversation – initial contact, “participation” in the festival activities, impact on the realization of the events – compression and other changes in time. The aim is an instant picture of the event – festival, that took place in 2002 in a specific home and specific place, to be made. The accent is on showing the significant things that the hosts-informers show and talk about. An attempt is made the things seen and experienced, documented by video, camera and audio-recorder, to be presented. A comparison, again as an instant picture, between Kurban Bayram and “prayer for rain” in the region of Assenovgrad, village of Muldava is made. The comparison is based on a common cultural technique – “giving an animal as a victim”. The idea is processes of construction and support of specific cultural image of the family and also the Muslim community in Assenovgrad to be revealed. The specific cultural image, presented in the public space, is a result from the new politics in the cultural sphere. On institutional level local authority, religious structure of the Muslims and political party are included. “Giving an animal as a victim”, seen both as a ritual and festival, creates horizontal links – a network of relations between those living “here” and “now” in Assenovgrad. This link supports the relations within the Muslim community and also between the community and the others – non-Muslims. The Kurban and prayer for rain are thought and interpreted as an element from the town’s heritage.

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