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Keywords: mixed marriages; migration; marriage regulations; “own” and “alien”; inter-cultural exchange; inter-cultural dialog;
Mixed marriages are one of the effects of migration. Every community has its own marriage regulations that define which marriages (meaning also which forms of inter-cultural exchange, inter-cultural dialog) are allowed, possible and inadmissible. In the foundations of these rules, strictly related to the definitions of the “own” and “alien”, and with the further differentiation of the “own”, lay the ideas about what is useful for the community. These rules are embedded in different tests; for the time when national law system was still not created, oral traditions and literature were among their main carriers. The paper is focused at the plots in literature dealing with marriages and love affairs of Bulgarian women with men from other ethnical origins, other religion and especially with the faith of some women that had to live in a community, different from their own.
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Keywords: local identity;public baths;Sofia;modernization;social networks
This article is part of ethnological research on the role and function of the public baths in the urban space. It was held in 2017 in the Gorna Banya district in Sofia. In this publication the public baths are seen as one of the markers that construct local identity. In the beginning of the 20th century, the old Ottoman baths were destroyed and new ones were built, which have been preserved to present day in the centre of Gorna banya. The baths are part of the everyday life of the local people. They use their resources for drinking, cooking, washing, but also for trade and medicinal purposes. Furthermore, they continue to observe some traditional family and calendar customs around the public baths.Although the doors of the baths are closed, the square in front of them continues to play a central role in public life. This is evidenced, on the one hand, by the annual celebrations, and on the other hand, by the ordinary people who organize gatherings in front of the public baths via Facebook. The public baths continue to be a central place around which life in the neighbouhood is organized. The local authorities are looking for different ways to fund the restoration of the old building.
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Keywords: Old Bulgarian language; Old Bulgarian translation; St. Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechism; composite nouns
The article analyzes 125 composite nouns, extracted from the Old Bulgarian translation of St. Cyril of Jerusalem’s Catechism of - 6 lexemes are for the concrete nouns (бракоодѣниѥ, виноградъ, врътоградъ, гланотѧжь, овощехранильница, трикровьникъ), 46 are designations of persons and 73 abstract concepts. There are primary ontological (бытиѥ, законъ, творениѥ, cf. пакыбытиѥ, законопрѣстѹпаниѥ, самотворениѥ), epistemic (мѫдрость, родъ, cf. цѣломѹдриѥ, прьвородиѥ) and ethical (благо, доброта, милость, мѣра, разѹмъ, cf. composite nouns with the first component благо- and добро-, милосрьдиѥ, лицемѣрьѥ, благоразѹмиѥ) terms detect in the structure of abstract noun composites. Complex nouns that are not fixed in the classic Old manuscripts are 78, for example благодэтельство, благодѣтиѥ, дльготрьпиѥ, добровольство, добровоньство, звѣздоберьць, звѣздословьць, земледѣля, зълобѳстриѥ. The compositum сѳноотьчьѥ is used in its negative theological meaning, rejecting the idea of Savelii’s heresy for monohypostasis of God’s personality. Particular composite bases of complex nouns are registered in Old Bulgarian canon as synonymous composite bases благочьст- and доброчьст- are fixed only in Codex Suprasliensis and Hylendar parchment sheets (a fragment of the Old Bulgarian translation of the catechism), and the synonymous derivatives добровоньство and добровониѥ, многобожиѥ and мъногобожьство are used in the Syn. 478 and Codex Suprasliensis. The main part of the composite nouns from Syn. 478 translate Greek composites, following the so-called word-by-word (and morpheme-by-morpheme within the lexeme) principle of translation. Examples are registered, in which old Bulgarian complex nouns translate Greek combination of words, for example бракоодѣниѥ wedding garment for Greek γάμου ἔνδυμα, тьштельсть blasphemy, vilification for Greek κενης ἀπάτης. On the other hand, compared with the Old Bulgarian canon a Greek complex lexemes is not translate with a combination of words and a complex noun, eg.: Greek ὀπωροφυλάκιον in the Sinai Psalter овощьноѥ хранилище, while Syn. 478 овощехранильница; Greek τεκνογονία in Codex Suprasliensis прижитиѥ чѧдъ while in Syn. 478 дѣтиродиѥ. In regard to the structure of compound words in the Syn. 478 both types are fixed: with a connective vowel -o/e- (eg. подобоврѣдиѥ, равьнодьниѥ, тъштельсть) and without a connecting vowel (братѹчадъ, дѣтиродиѥ, зълъштѫдь, лъжиисъвѣдѣтель, пакѳбѳтиѥ, полѹдьнь, тридьновие, трикровьникъ). In connection with the varying degree of repetition of the first component the so-called Composite group is registered, as the ones with a basis благо- are the most frequent (18 lexemes). Among the analyzed first components of complex nouns in Syn. 478 the bases басно-, брако-, главо-, дѣти-, зълъ-, зѣло-, кръваво-, овоште-, пророко-, пѹстыне-, равьно-, свѣто-, свѧто-, сладо-, срамо-, срѣдо-, тризно- and чьсто- are not fixed at all in composite lexemes in the classic Old Bulgarian manuscripts. The complex words with first component басно-, добро-, кръваво-, подобо- and само- are characteristic of practice Preslav writers’ because composites with those first components are found in Codex Suprasliensis, Izbornik of 1073, John Exarch’s Theology, Antiochus’ Pandects and Nikons’ Pandects. Syntactic-semantic relations between the foundations of the composite nouns in Syn. 478 are most often based on subordinating conjunction – attribute, object or adverbial relation between the components. In this respect the mutational and transpositional word-formation categories and types composite are differentiated in the studied manuscript. The observations allow us to conclude that the lexical layer of composite nouns in the Old Bulgarian translation of the Catechism reflects the norm characteristic of the Preslav scholars – in the use of lexemes (and their components) as dictionary units, as well as in the construction of composite bases according to established word-formation patterns in the Old Bulgarian language.
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Keywords: Petar Beron; Bulgarian 19th Century; History of Childhood; Child; Enlightenment; Greek Enlightenment; John Locke; Aristotle;
The study focuses on Petar Beron’s views on childhood revealed in his writings and biography. One of his strongest messages is for a new understanding of childhood and children as a stage in human development, requiring from adults specific treatment. He was especially strong on defending the right of girls to school education. Along with Locke, he believed that a kid’s mind is a tabula rasa and corporal punishment should be abolished. More traditional is he regarding the power distribution at home and school: free choice is the domain of adults; children don’t have enough knowledge and experience to be vested with it.
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Keywords: Сaricature; Image of the Other; WW I; Aftermath of WW I; Bulgaria; the Balkans;
This text seeks to present the way in which Bulgarian caricaturists depicted the aftermath of World War I in their work. The attention is focused primarily on the image of the neighbouring Other. Does war matter and, more precisely, what is the relationship between war (and post-war time) and the attitude to the neighbouring nations of Bulgaria, and how this relationship influences the dynamics of the caricature images in the Bulgarian humoristic press? These are the questions to which the author offers an answer. As a basis of discussion a corpus of about 80 caricatures published in the newspaper Българан (Bălgaran) is used.
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Keywords: historiography; literary history; interdisciplinarity; problematisation;
The paper deals with some methodological problems in literary history and searches for their analogues and connections in historiography. What defines a text as literature? What does literary history really examine? The centuries-old unity of Bulgarian literature – does it really exist and what are its boundaries in time and space? The paper questions some established notions about these topics and suggests that such questions and doubts are related to the historiography.
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Keywords: Bulgarian Renaissance; church “St. Nicholas” in the village of Banya, Panagyurishte district; icons and frescoes depicting Sts. Cyril and Methodius; Bulgarski bukvar; painter Ivan Stoyanov Zografski
The mural depicting Sts. Cyril and Methodius at the church „St. Nicholas“ in the village of Banya is a typical example of the role of the Bulgarian icon-painters and the Cyrillo-Methodian theme in the reawakening of the Bulgarian people during the Bulgarian Renaissance. The current church building was built in the middle of the 19th century, the icons found in the church and the only mural scene there were created somewhere between the middle and the second half of the 19th century. The comparative analysis of the mural and the images in closest proximity to it shows that the icon-painter built the iconographic scheme on the basis of the famous image from the “Bulgarski bukvar” [Bulgarian primer], which he obviously knew in great detail and followed very closely. The icons and frescoes depicting Sts. Cyril and Methodius are divided into two main groups according to their compositional features and peculiarities. In the first group Cyril and Methodius are depicted separately whereas in the second one they are represented together. The frescoes in the village of Banya are connected to one of the characteristic images in the Cyrillo-Methodian pictorial tradition – namely, the one in which Cyril and Methodius are depicted in monastic attire. This pictorial scheme emerged during the Bulgarian Renaissance, but remained less widespread. In view of the fact that the frescoes in question were definitely created in 1861, and that the name compositional change started to occur in the middle of the nineteenth century, it can be assumed that the fresco is probably among the first images in which this invention emerged. On the basis of a thorough analysis of the details and inscriptions providing information about the exact date of the frescoes’ creation, the occasion for their creation and the donors that contributed to their realization, as well as the study of the icon-painters who worked in the church, it can be concluded that the fresco was probably one of the early works of the painter Ivan Stoyanov Zografski (Papazov), who at that time lived and worked in the village of Banya.
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Keywords: Northeastern Bulgaria; Varna Region; ethnic groups; ethnicity (narodnost); national state; provincial administration; clothing; population; censuses
The paper offers an analysis of the ethno-demographic data found in a corpus of handwritten documents related to the Province of Varna in North-eastern Bulgaria and compiled in 1888 as a result of a state-wide initiative for collecting information on the traditional clothes of the population. The related data is explored in the context of other contemporary sources in order to trace tendencies and specificities in the approach of the local administration – which was responsible for carrying out of the survey – towards the ethnicity as a concept and a means of population mapping,as well as towards the represented ethnic groups in particular. The paper highlights the meanings of the term ‘ethnicity’ (narodnost) as applied in the sources under consideration, and discusses the (in)visibility of certain communities, including the ethnographic groups that form them. Moreover, an attempt is made to set the discussion against the background of imperial legacy and the social structures and concepts that functioned in the nineteenth-century Ottoman state as opposed to those developing in the newly founded Bulgarian national state.
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Keywords: us vs. them; stereotype of Pole; self-stereotype of Bulgarian
The article presents the stereotype of a Pole as it functions in the community of contemporary Poland-based Bulgarians (mainly in mixed marriages). On the basis of the material collected in 1996-1998 and 2002-2005 from over a hundred informants, Bulgarian immigrants living in 11 Polish cities, the author has established an inventory of the features characterizing the stereotype of a Pole. She underscores those which contrast the image of a Pole with a self-stereotype of a Bulgarian: the features have to do with worldview (the Polish religiousness being evaluated negatively as superficial and ritualized), standard of living (Polish cuisine is considered inferior to Bulgarian) or social life (excessive etiquette) etc. The Bulgarian stereotype of a Pole combines positive features (politeness) with negative ones (laziness, excessive drinking). Because there have been no periods of intense contacts or conflicts between the two nations, the only source of the stereotype is the elementary operation of comparing one’s own image with that of another. The operation is at work especially in the case of emigrants.
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Keywords: national identity; ethno-religious identity; ethnic stereotype; us vs. them
The article deals with changes of ethno-religious identity and ethnic stereotypes. The opposition between US and THEM plays a major role in shaping one’s group identity and determining one’s relationships with others (those who belong to us, who are similar and friendly vs. those who do not, who are different and hostile). Of all types of identity, the ethno-religious identity is the least amenable to change in one’s own environment but may and does change in a foreign context, among displaced persons, emigrants etc. Important factors of identity are cultural in nature and have to do with religion, customs and language. Depending on how much the community wants its new members to assimilate, the mutual relationship between cultures involves adjustment or obliteration of cultural differences. Identity may change in various ways: when identity is changed, the characteristics and relationships of the representatives of one group change through self-identification and naming; when identities are exchanged, self-identification and self-reference change together with the group’s characteristics (members of the group call themselves representatives of another nation or denomination). The loss of identity and the acquisition of a new one are most of the time parallel processes but they are not mutually dependent. Some aspects of the loss are not so strongly connected with the acquisition (weakening, neglect, oblivion and renunciation), whereas others are (double identity, replacement of an ethic identity by another ethnic identity or by an identity of a different type, e.g. professional). The analysis considers the role of the US/THEM opposition in various types of changes of national identity.
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Keywords: FAMILY STEREOTYPE; POLISH-BULGARIAN RELATIONS; TOLERANCE
The article is based on anthropological and linguistic data obtained through fieldwork with Bulgaria-based Poles. A group of Polish residents permanently living in Bulgaria was interviewed between 1996 and 2001. The Poles, usually married to Bulgarian women, tend to live in big cities. Their stereotype of a Bulgarian is predominantly negative. A Bulgarian is usually viewed as possessing oriental features of character, which stems from the one-time Ottoman domination in the area. The content of the stereotype draws on everyday relations such as those between a man and a woman, husband and wife, a Bulgarian mother-in-law and Polish daughter-in-law, or between parents and children. It is also based on the attitude of Bulgarians to tradition, customs, folk culture, religion, etc. Features which are seen as typical of Slavs, such as hospitality, warm-heartedness and frankness, receive positive evaluation. Kindness to and tolerance of foreigners are emphasized as the most positive features of Bulgarians. A hypothesis is put forward that the predominantly negative stereotype of a Bulgarian entertained by Bulgaria-based Poles does not result from the negative evaluation of Bulgarians, but mainly from a highly positive auto-stereotype entertained by the Poles themselves.
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Keywords: Ihtiman; waqf; Ottoman empire; Principality of Bulgaria; Eastern Rumelia; Mihaloğlu family
The modern town of Ihtiman owes its establishment and further development during the Ottoman period to the members of the noble Mihaloğlu family who settled in Ihtiman and turned it into its residence and a center of its large pious foundation, founded to support the religious, charitable and educational institutions built in the town. The history of Ihtiman remains closely linked to the Mihaloğlu family ever since its establishment until the end of the Ottoman rule in the Bulgarian lands. The present article outlines the development of the waqf of Mihaloğlu Mahmud bey in the area of Ihtiman from its foundation till the first decade of the 20th century in an attempt to point out to its importance for the period of Ottoman rule as well as during the period immediately after the proclamation of independent Bulgaria when the so-called “waqf question” occupies a key place not only in the international relations of the young national state with the Ottoman empire but it also stood out as an essential problem in internal politics as well. The documents from the period after the Russo-Ottoman war of 1877–1878 allows for the elucidation of certain hitherto understudied questions connected to the last years of Ihtiman pious foundation’s existence in particular, as well as to the tracing out of the fate of the members of the Ottoman elite in the face of the Ihtiman waqf administrators during the new political and economic conditions of the national Bulgarian state.
More...Keywords: Karavelov; realism; urban prose; Chernyshevskiy; patriarchic culture; Serbian literature
The role of Karavelov in Serbian culture and literature was investigated as one of the pioneers of social realism and one of the main founders of the Serbian realistic narrative and criticism. In Serbian literature, Karavelov introduces new themes, new stylistic and rhetorical means and reveals new possibilities of narration.It was investigated originality of Karavelov's novel in regards to the novel of N. Chernishevski What to do? An unfinished novel Is it the fault of destiny? represents the first literary work on Belgrade's life in Serbian realism and certainly Philological Studies 17, 1, (2019) 147-164148the most importantwith the theme of social life after the novel by Jakov Ignjatovic. Patriarchal culture models that considerably shape urban, on the background of Central European and Western European civilizational influences, were also considered.
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Keywords: Conquest of Constantinople; Bulgarian Nationalism; Bulgarian Literature; Svetoslav Milarov; Mental Geography; Historical Imagery;
The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople was a critical event in the history of the Balkans, that left its profound imprint on the notions of Bulgarians of their past and of their self-image. Behind the seemingly unambiguous evaluation of this event – a defeat of Christendom that has to do with the fall of the Bulgarian Kingdom – an observer could trace one more complicated, ambivalent picture. The paper marks some of its premises:A) The city was unsuccessfully attacked by Bulgarians several times in the past and they still think themselves through the prism of these wars. B) Byzantines (Greeks) and Ottomans (Turks) are the traditional enemies in the Bulgarian national mythology. Their conflict and their interrelations as a whole generate different reactions, multiple plots.C) In the nineteenth century when the foundations of Bulgarian nationalism were set up, Constantinople (Istanbul) was probably the city with the largest Bulgarian population and the stage for many of the important events in the Bulgarian society.This paper offers а brief review of the main types of Bulgarian texts from the 19th and early 20th centuries dealing with the fall of Constantinople, comparing them with some Byzantine sources, with some Greek and other interpretations of this event and focuses on one not so popular dramatic work, written in verses by Svetoslav Milarov in the early 1870s. Here the ambivalent attitude of a part of Bulgarian society to the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople was more visible.
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Keywords: cultural heritage and identity; public baths; restoration
This article is part of ethnological research on the role and function of the public baths in the urban space. Fieldwork was done in 2017 in the Gorna Banya quarter of Sofia. In this publication, the public baths are seen as one of the markers that construct local identity. At the beginning of the 20th century, the old Ottoman baths in the centre of Gorna Banya are destroyed and new ones are built, which are preserved to the present day. The baths are part of the everyday life of the local people, who use their resources for drinking, cooking, washing, but also for trade and medicinal purposes. Furthermore, the inhabitants continue to observe some traditional family and calendar customs around the public baths. Although the baths are closed, the square in front of them continues to playa central role in public life. This is evident, on the one hand, from the annual celebrations, and on the other hand, from the gatherings in front of the public baths summoned via Facebook. The public baths continue to be a central place around which life in the quarter is organized. The local authorities are looking for different ways to fund the restoration of the old building.
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Keywords: Betrothal; robbery; memoirs; Ivan Naydenov.
The paper presents one episode in the life of Ivan Naydenov (1834–1910), Bulgarian journalist from Constantinople and social activist: the robbery that occurred when he was travelling to be engaged in his native Kazanlak. Different documents – newspaper information, memoirs and a short story – narrate the adventure and offer a slightly different image of two events that are interesting from an ethnographic and historiographic perspective.
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Content of the main Bulgarian scientific journals for the current year in linguistics, literature, history, folklore, ethnography, archaeology and art studies.
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Keywords: masquerade; urban identity; festive life
The text analyzes specific examples from the festive life of the Hungarian cities of Mohács and Debrecen and in particular different manifestations of the contemporary masquerade game. The author pays attention to the construction of urban identity (part A) and searches for basic characteristics of the urban cultural space as a place of national memory (part B). The field research method is applied for the purposes of the present study. In conclusion it is noted that it is especially important for the participants to identify with a particular masquerade community that builds additional social networks outside of the carnival chronotope. The consistency with the culture and traditions of the city is also significant as far as these are manifestations of urban identity. The national identity finds expression in symbols and signs of the national manifested under conditions of deterritorialization. Through the self-perception of the people in the city (as people tied to it and belonging to it) and through their identification with it, the urban social space acquires its anthropological dimensions contributing to its unique spirit and particularity (genius loci).
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