From Multi-Colored Threads to Bones and Small Knives: towards history of ethnographic objects from remote childhood Cover Image

От разноцветных ниточек до косточек и ножиков: к истории этнографических предметов давнего детства
From Multi-Colored Threads to Bones and Small Knives: towards history of ethnographic objects from remote childhood

Author(s): Nicolaj D. Russev
Subject(s): Anthropology, Customs / Folklore, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Издательский дом Stratum, Университет «Высшая антропологическая школа»
Keywords: left bank of the Lower Danube; 60s. 20th century; childhood environment; colouring; amulets; martenitsa; sarma; boys’ games; arshitsi; small knives; Turkic traditions
Summary/Abstract: The author addresses artifacts of traditional culture shared by the Bulgarians from the left bank of the Lower Danube in 1960s. He reviews some peculiarities of this environment, which gradually introduced children to the adult world. These were the things that protected the growing generation from the harm and secured their health and wellbeing. The author describes the differently colored amulets (martenitsa) and wedding frippery (sarma). Special attention is paid to boys’ games, such as dice (arshitsi) and knives, which reflected some centennial values of the Turkic nomads. Particularly, this concerns analogous use of cold weapons and their transmission from generation to generation.