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Conversation between Dr. Anatoli Kanev and Prof. Ilia Todev about the role of historians and more specifically the history of Batak.
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Conversation between Dr. Anatoli Kanev and Prof. Ilia Todev about the role of historians and more specifically the history of Batak.
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The article comments on legislative initiatives of the Cabinet of Alexander Stamboliiski, which aim to alleviate the material status of teachers and to provide more funds for the construction of new school buildings. And all this against the backdrop of economic collapse, which relegated the country after three wars, the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Neuilly and huge casualties given in hostilities.
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The interdisciplinary field of memory studies and literary science is a relatively new research subject that immediately attracted the attention of scholars from across various areas. In the case of Bulgarian literature, however, no comprehensive study has yet been attempted. This article strives to make a first, tentative contribution in this direction. By analysing three Bulgarian literary works – Čavdar Mutafov’s Smărten săn, Dimităr Korudžiev’s Predi da se umre and Vladislav Todorov’s Dzift – with regard to their interrelationship between city, memory and individual, this paper offers a thematically limited, but concise glimpse into some of the manifestations of a memoryscape in modernist and contemporary Bulgarian literature.
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The article focuses on the semi-autonomous possessions in the north-western Bulgarian lands between the end of the XII and the beginning of the XIV century. The main accent is placed on Vidin region. The political model formed there at the end of the XIII and the beginning of the XIV century was mentioned as the basic prerequisite for the future development of the area in the middle and the second half of the XIV century.
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The article analyzes the figure of Ivan Borimechkata (The Bear-Fighter) – one of the most famous heroes of April 1876 uprising – from the viewpoint of its hyposthases: as a literary character that gained popularity with Ivan Vazov’s novel “Pod Igoto“ [“Under the Yoke“]; as a historical personality with a concrete biography on whose basis Vazov created his literary character; as a mythical figure that found various representations in the national and local memory, in art, public discussions, etc.Analyzing comparatively diverse folklore and historical sources about Borimechkata, the article traces the processes of taking the concrete personality out of historical anonymity and turning it into a hero and a kind of myth. In the course of these processes, the historical indicators about the martyrdom of Ivan Borimechkata appear silenced by the voice of the heroic memories about him – ones created and affirmed through the character’s interpretation in literature, monumental representations,visual arts, and cinema. The article shows how the novel “Under the Yoke“ testifies not only of Vazov’s return to the “idealized epoch“ of the April 1876 uprising, with its ideas and heroes, but was also a powerful instrument in coining heroic characters and narratives connected with that time.
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The paper analyzes the symbolic layers in the major commemorative ceremony in Bulgaria – the roll-call. It is divided in two parts. The first one (Bulgarian Ethnology,2018, № 1) interprets the symbolic actions comprising the basic tools for producing ceremonial meaning: saluting and rendering military honors, ritual silence and lack of action, battle cry, ceremonial mise-en-scène (monument, guards of honor, etc.)– these are recognized as specific devices for removing symbolically the border between the living and the dead, between heroes and descendants. The second part(Bulgarian Ethnology, 2018, № 2) examines the ceremonial scenario as a prospectivelyun folding narrative – each symbolic action is interpreted as a successive move in the overall plot. This approach acknowledges that the ceremony is made up of three parts: preparatory, commemorative, and triumphal, whereas the scenario as a whole embraces the following logic: listing and honoring the heroes in the commemorative part is succeeded by their posthumous enwreathing and symbolic immortalization as stars in the night sky through the use of fireworks.
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Bachkovo monastery is a subject of research interests over the years of a number of Bulgarian and foreign scientists. A part of paintings in the parvis of the main church was restored in May 2016. We have better opportunities for precise observations in frescoes because of that. This was one of the most important occasions for writing this material. Un¬known and very qualified painter signed the walls with images of almost unknown Saints. There are items related to Crete and Venice in the monastery museum collection in the same time. There is a church and chapel devoted to the most respected Cretan icon in the town of Asenovgrad, etc. All these facts lead us to the idea of the existence of links between the Bachkovo monastery and the island Crete, whose residents have long time been under Venetian domination.
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The ancient village Dospey, near Samokov, has a legend that before Bulgaria fell under the Ottoman rule, the local people “collected every¬thing from the other nearby churches and covered it completely with earth.” Another legend claims that manuscripts handwritten by Patriarch Euthymius, which were sent from Tarnovo to the Rila Monastery but never arrived at their final destination, are inside some of the buried sacred church vessels. The mound, which allegedly contains the hidden sacred vessels, exists to this very day. The author of this book strongly believes that it should be explored and urges the archeologists to conduct the needed research.
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If examined in detail – by means of archaeological excavations plus objective dating techniques – аt least 20 Islamic burials (direct task of ethnology and archeology) they will create a database. A database can serve as an additional heuristic tool in the field studies (reverse task of ethnology and archeology) that aim to clarify the various ethno-confes¬sional processes occurred during the last seven centuries when the Islam attended the Balkans.
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An attempt has been made to search for an explanation of the existence of a rock relief depicting animal heads near the town of Sliven through ethnology point of view. Initial specious speculation has been made in accordance with the se¬mantics of the depicted images. They were possibly part of an ancient rock sanctuary. The ancient origin of these depictions has been brought into question because of the lack of preserved information in the local knowledge, their topographic position, which distinguishes them and its immediate vicinity to the town of Sliven and to an ancient settlement. The appearance of an eventual contemporary “author” claiming that it is his work puts many questions for discussion.
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The subject of the article concerns the reconstruction of the Midsum¬mer Night’s ritual. The author gives answers to the questions: What is a ritual? How should it be studied? What should be the methodology of description and interpretation of its complicated morphology? Regional variants of the rite are analysed and on the basis of them a model ritual (its invariant) is reconstructed. The article is based on archive materials and accounts collected personally by the author, mostly in Poland, in the years 2009–2014. The period of the most intense activity of the sun, falling on the second half of June, was generally regarded as extraordinary time in the folk tradition. The culmination of ritual activities took place on the night preceding the holiday of the nativity of St John the Baptist, usually celebrated on the 24th of June (also on the 7th of July in the Orthodox tradi¬tion). This time was marked by many ritual practices resulting from the system of traditional beliefs and views on the world. The article discusses the relics of beliefs and ritual behaviour connected with the summer solstice and their most important functions (magical, protective, purificatory, courtship and matrimonial, conveying beliefs, in¬tegrative and ludic). Furthermore, the article presents the main causes of disappearance, degradation and simultaneous modernization of the sum¬mer solstice rites.
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The paper analyzes the symbolic layers in the major commemorative ceremony in Bulgaria – the roll-call. It is divided in two parts. The first one (Bulgarian Ethnology,2018, no. 1) interprets the symbolic actions comprising the basic tools for producing ceremonial meaning: saluting and rendering military honors, ritual silence and lack of action, battle cry, ceremonial mise-en-scène (monument, guards of honor, etc.) – these are recognized as specific devices for removing symbolically the border between the living and the dead, between heroes and descendants. The second part examines the ceremonial scenario as a prospectively unfolding narrative – each symbolic action is interpreted as a successive move in the overall plot. This approach acknowledges that the ceremony is made up of three parts: preparatory, commemorative, and triumphal,whereas the scenario as a whole embraces the following logic: listing and honoring the heroes in the commemorative part is succeeded by their posthumous enwreathing and symbolic immortalization as stars in the night sky through the use of fireworks.
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The present paper aims at research of relations between Assyria during the reign of Ashurnasirpal II and three Neo-Hittite kingdoms – Carchemish, Patina and Kummuhu, situated in North-western Syria and neighbouring parts of Turkey. The first part of the study is dedicated to the political events in the relations, marked by the campaigns of the Assyrian ruler in the first half of IX century BCE. The analysis here is based mainly on written sources – Assyrian royal inscriptions, which describe events in terms of campaigns, subjugation and tributes, received from Neo-Hittite kings. The second part of the study is dedicated to the cultural interaction between Assyria and the three kingdoms mentioned above, as result of their subjugation. Here the analysis is based on artifacts, mainly stone slabs with reliefs and some cylinder seals. Some new observations on the chronology of the monuments and their scenes are added, as also some new conclusions on the direction of influence in some artifacts and their elements. The question about the role of Assyria in the process of cultural interaction is especially discussed in the light of new observations. It is concluded, that the cultural interaction in this period is a bilateral process with long-term consequences in the art and politics.
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The article describes the establishing of the first circle of Kabbalists in Salonica by two scholars who later laid the foundations of The Golden Age of Safed: R. Joseph Karo, whose Shulchan Aruch became the authoritative codification of Jewish law; and his companion, kabbalist and poet R. Solomon Halevi Elkabetz. While performing a mystical ceremony on the nights of Shevuot (Pentecost) of 1533, a prophetic voice was heard through R. J. Karo’s throat and mouth. The voice urged the companions to ascend immediately to the Land of Israel in order to redeem the Assembly of Israel and be redeemed from exile.Special weight is given to the messianic enthusiasm of the circle, and to their interpretation of the triumphs of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent over the Christian coalition led by Emperor Charles V as an omen to the fall of the satanic realm of “Edom” and as an encouraging step towards redemption.
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As a cosmopolitan port city imbued with various cultures in the Levant, Salonica took its share from the modernization efforts triggered with Tanzimat Period. By mid-nineteenth century, Salonica’s embankment and customs facilities were limited and the transport of goods was problematic due to limited access. Meanwhile, burgeoning trade activities as a result of Ottoman treaties granting special privileges to foreign tradesmen necessitated a comprehensive reorganization of the harbour area.This paper aims to study the urban and architectural transformation of the commercial centre of the city, with a special focus on the re-organization of the sea shore supported with new findings from the Ottoman archives. After its completion in 1882, Salonica Quay became the most prestigious area of the city, lined with buildings which represented the transforming socio-economic life. The urban transformation emerging from the quay area also reflected on the traditional commercial centre concentrating around Frank Street, where new types of commercial buildings started to appear.
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Scholars have relied upon diverse methodologies and sources to produce a new corpus of studies about Salonica’s Jews that explores the impact of the end of the Ottoman Empire and the consolidation of the Greek nation-state. Much of the newer scholarship, however, reinforces the perception that Salonica’s Jews experienced a period of “decline” after the city’s incorporation into the Greek state (1912 – 1913) that culminated in their deportation to Auschwitz (1943). This study investigates why such a lachrymose and teleological interpretation of Salonican Jewish history persists today. By reference to new sources and a different interpretive lens, this article also challenges conventional wisdom concerning key turning points in the narrative of the city’s Jews: a major fire (1917), a compulsory Sunday closing law (1924), and the first major act of anti-Jewish violence (1931). The article thus offers a new approach to assessing the encounters between the multiplicities of Jews in Salonica and the Greek state.
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Bouena Sarfatty was born in Salonika in 1916 to a Sephardi family. After World War II, she memorialized her birthplace by composing hundreds of Ladino verses (coplas) about Jewish life in the twentieth century. Her phenomenal memory and personal insights provide a poetic mirror that reflects the multi-cultural environment which she experienced personally. The poems appearing below reflect her thoughts about the process of modernization, whether of language, education, dress or mentalité. European influences created a cosmopolitan city that clearly affected Jewish life. The changes that transpired following the devastating fire of 1917 often harmed the development of this community that had been so vibrant and essential for centuries. Be that as it may, the poems written by this native Salonikan present a unique glimpse into the mindset and experiences of multilingual Jews attempting to adapt to the twentieth century and life in a multi-cultural city.
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This article explores an actual and online street protest which unfolded over a series of weeks in the Spring of 2013 when Cyprus experienced an economic crisis following the ‘bailout’-‘haircut of March 2013. In an effort to contextualize and explore the performative aspects of these events the author links this to art and protest as an expression of alternativeness and an avant-garde spirit embodying resonances of 1960’s and 1970’s art and protest as performative happenings. It is argued, unlike other similar contemporary contexts of economic crisis in the EU, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain, protests in Cyprus may not have been so massively populated but the spirit of performative art was expressed in innovative ways, as documented and shared through social media as an alternative platform of expression, which ultimately fills a void that exists in the contemporary Cypriot political landscape.
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From 2002 to 2015 a considerable number of large-scale, geopolitical bannered exhibitions have been dedicated to the ‘the Balkans.’ This article aims to analyze and compare two types of regional, large scale exhibitions from/on the Balkans: contemporary art exhibitions and interpretative (dedicated to historical and ethnographic themes) exhibitions. The pervasiveness of the stereotypical visual representations of ‘the Balkans’ – called by the Bulgarian artist Luchezar Boyadjiev the ‘Balkan blue’ – as a region of everlasting conflicts and binary oppositions coincides with the birth of contemporary Balkan art. By attempting to overcome the stereotypical images of the Balkans (‘the Balkan ethos’) still prevalent in our days, the travelling exhibition ‘Imagining the Balkans: Identities and Memory in the Long 19th Century’ – opened in Ljubljana (Slovenia) at the National Museum of Slovenia, in April 2013 and then displayed in other national museums of history from the Balkan region – endeavors to place national histories in a perspective where they interact.
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