Формиране на семейство и домакинство при гагаузите в Североизточна България през първата половина на ХХ век
The Gagaouzes During the First Half of the 20th Century: Family and a Household

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the family structures of the Gagaouzes in Northeastern Bulgaria in the first half of the 20th century. It is based on the result of ethnographic field research, carried out in 1996-1998, and on information obtained from ethnographic interviews and biographical narrations of people aged between 45 and 80, living in the villages of Bulgarevo, Topola, Bozhourets, Mogilishte, Rakovski, Gorichane, Tvarditsa and Bozhanovo. The non-statistical data, collected during ethnographic field research, show that during the first half of the 20th century, existing among the Gagaouzes were both nuclear family households and complex households with vertical and horizontal extensions. Among the Gagaouzes, complexity is most often just a phase (from 6 months to about 2-3 years) in the cycle of development of the households. Subsequently, the so-called simple family structures become established. Moving to a new location after marriage, is not precluded: it is just put off for a shorter or longer period. Therefore, during the period under investigations, the Gagaouzes showed no difference from the dominating nuclear family structures, established in historical and demographic studies covering Eastern Bulgaria. In their characteristics, the forms of kinship and family relations of the Gagaouzes correspond to those, characteristic for the Central and Eastern Bulgaria zone. The patriarchal structures there are not so clear-cut, as is the case in Western Bulgaria and, notwithstanding the great importance of the kinship networks in socio-economic life, the kinship ideology is considerably weakened, and the complex families are not the predominant structure.

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