Дарове и гостоприемство
Gifts and Hospitality

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the role of gifts and hospitality in Bulgarian peasant tradition in the context of peasant society structure: small and middle size family households organized to overcome difficulties and constraints of an underdeveloped society of „communal capitalism“ where most of the young people could not enter labor market outside villages. Overpopulation results in specific strategies of economic behavior: family members worked to make their households most productive through their efforts, mutual aid between village families in critical moments of agricultural cycle, as well as intensive social interaction in the most important social events in peasant communities: birth, wedding, rites of passage, funerals, calendar customs, rites and holidays, etc. All of them contained gifts exchanges and hospitality that reflect relative social equality and regular exchange of services between families. Most archaic gifts – oral blessings and actions, presented by ritual groups („koledari“, „survakari“, „kukeri“, etc) are directed to positive influence on actual and future fruits of nature and humans health. They are exchanged for material gifts and hospitality. Collective participation in gift exchange and hospitality includes rites aimed to overcome critical moment in the families and villages: long illness or epidemics. All the collective rituals expressed unity against social and natural crises.

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