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One of the typical and relatively stable features of the everyday life of the Bulgarianimmigrants in the historical and cultural region of Bessarabia are the patronal festivalsand customs held within the frameworks of the village, neighbourhood or familyand referred to as zbor/sabor (збор/събор), hram (храм), kurban (курбан), tsarkva(църква), panagir (панагирь), cherkuvane (черкуване), moleben (молебен) etc. Asfor the designation збор (a fair), it is clear that it precedes the Russian designationхрам (a patron saint’s day) which penetrates the region under study later on andwhich is widely used at present. What stirs up bigger interest is the fact that exceptfor village church festivals this term (as well as some of the other above-mentioned) was also used for intervillage festivals held at the landmark of the territories of two,three or more villages – the so-called fairs at the landmark also known as moleben orcherkuvane for rain and good health.As far as the patron saint’s day is a universal Christian phenomenon and stilla general practice in the villages of the region studied here, it could be assumedthat the gathering itself, the making of zbor (or moleben) at the landmark (at theborder between a group of villages), which is neglected today almost everywhere,is a form typical only of the immigrants (Bulgarians and Gagauzians) in Bessarabia.This practice attracts the attention with respect to its nature and development as partof the all-Bulgarian system of patronal village festivals as well as with relation tothe influences, changes and specifics through which it inevitably goes under theconditions of the many-tounged and polycultural environment of Bessarabia and theRussian Orthodox Christianity.The fieldwork materials collected so far do not allow a coprehensive and thickdescription of the phenomena intriguing us as well as a more elaborate analysis.That’s why the article only poses the problem or rather interpretes it in connectionwith some concepts of the kin and family-territorial patronal festivals and customswhich were formulated a long time ago in the Bulgarian science but which are stillrelevant.
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On the basis of written sources and field materials, the article examines the phenomenonof the “Odessa cuisine” as a regional complex of food. In the context of thehistorical dynamics, it shows the role of the Balkan traditions in the formation anddevelopment of the everyday culture of the inhabitants of Odessa. Special attentionis paid to the current state of the trade subculture and, respectively, to the systemof the food traditions in Odessa. In particular, the article shows that there are manyproducts introduced by natives from the Balkans (first of all, Greeks and Bulgarians):eggplants, tomatoes, cheese, corn, mutton, grapes, etc. The regional dishes perceivedas “Odessaian” but having roots in the ethno-cultures of the above-mentioned communities,are developed on this basis. The text shows also the “blue” (eggplants) invarious variations of preparation and the “pshonka” (corn). Beside the national, theprofessional mass cuisine is also analyzed (restaurant); in it the Balkan substratumhas found its place a long time ago along with the Jewish, Ukrainian and Moldavian.In the menu of these institutions, there are surely a number of dishes with Balkanorigins. On the other hand, it is worth characterizing the special national restaurantsof Odessa (Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Greek).
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In the folklore of many peoples, the luminous bodies and phenomena are related tothe traditional concepts of the world structure. In the Bulgarian popular astronomythe Milky Way is seen as a Straw Road. The folklore texts present the “road” as both aborder and a bond between the “own” and the “alien” space, between the earthly andthe “divine” world. It is a process of movement in the mythological space but it couldalso be a place where the worlds in this space meet. Such development of the conceptof the “road” in the Bulgarian popular tradition is related to liminal rituals typical ofcalendar festivals including Christmas.
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The article makes a brief historical review of the development of Roma publicationsin the countries in Eastern Europe by emphasizing the processes in each country andthe interrelations between their policies regarding the Roma culture and the Roma literary production. The aim of the article is to show that the development of Roma literature is related to the political, social and cultural context in the country or region of its creation. The comparative historical approach is the most appropriate for the purpose since the tendencies in the development of the Roma literature are related to the policies of identity (in general or directed to the Roma population) in different historical periods and regions.
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The purpose of the present article is to trace the history and to show the activities performedby the gypsies/Romani organizations in Shumen, Bulgaria during the period between 1944 and 1990. The history of these organizations is going through several periods which match the political periods regarding the gypsy population in Bulgaria.It was founded in 1946, when Bulgaria was leading a policy of ethnical recognition of the gypsies and a wide consideration of their cultural and historical identity. Inthe beginning of the 1950s, due to the fear of the so-called “turcheene” (i.e. public demonstration of the Turkish ethnic identity) among a large part of the gypsies, there was a turning-point in the public policy – the Cultural and Educational organization of the gypsies was forbidden and they got into the hands of the “Fatherland Front” (“Otechestven front”). In spite of the restrictions and interdictions, in 1967 the leaders of the Gypsy movement in Shumen restored their organization by the name of “Roma”, but they didn’t get the recognition and validation from the government. In spite of this, they continued to work for the protection of the Gypsy community in Shumen and in all of their activities in several basic directions (socioeconomic, political, educational and cultural) were performed by the organization’s name. This continued until the beginning of the 1990s, when the organization was recovered, andalong side this a number of new organizations arose.
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The article examines the movements from Bulgaria to Norway and is based on anethnographic fieldwork. Using the methods of the oral history, the article analyzes the road to the north and the settlement in an almost unknown and cold country. Th epersonal stories of the Bulgarians present their visions of the road, their views onNorway and the founding of home as a personal experience in the context of the complexmigratory situation there. The specifics of the Bulgarian settlement in Norway predetermine the understanding of home and road. The successful and relatively fast realization, the high standard of life, the social model and the opportunity for quicklybringing together the separated families transform the migration to the north from amovement into a fixed way of life. For the Bulgarians, the new home in Norway has different aspects – it is the heart of the family, of calmness, cosiness and security. For the emigrants, the road to the north is both a road and a way back to the “native” andthe “Bulgarian” which could be seen in the founding of a “Bulgarian home” by different emigrant institutions and organizations. The new transnational and transcultural home of the Bulgarians in Norway becomes their comfort zone.
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The migrations of the Turks from Bulgaria to Turkey in the 20th century are subject of broad academic and pubic discussions; the greatest attention is paid to the last wave of migration of 1989. The article directs the attention further back in the history, to the period from 1950 to 1951 when the Bulgarian and Turkish authorities organized for the first time a mass deportation of over 150 000 Turks. The study discusses the macro and micro framework of that migration flow in the light of the scientificanalytical approach of histoire croisée/entangled history. By means of it, the author analyses the “entangled” policies presented on the basis of Bulgarian, Turkish and other historical sources and compared to ethnographic fieldwork materials collected among the Bulgarian migrants in the city of Izmir. The study works out new issues and issues insufficiently examined of the written and oral history of the Turkish migrants related to the ideas of homeland, the influence of social and kin networks and the reconstruction of identity in the processes of migration, adaptation and integration.
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The objective of this article is to outline the basic tensions in contemporary Bulgarian society concerning the intertwining of religion and secularism through the prism of relations between national state and different religious organizations and individuals.The general goal is to combine the presentation of national historical context, existing legislation and the current social debate based on anthropological fieldwork.
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The text presents the state of the web TV in Bulgarian based on the results from the project ‘Web radio and TV in Bulgarian language’ funded by the Research fund of Sofia University with supervisor prof. DSc Snezhana Popova.It is hard to show precise data about the number of web TVs in Bulgarian or with Bulgarian addresses in 2017. The platforms do not use the term web TV, ‘online TV’. In 2017 three types of web TVs prove to be sustainable: regional, lifestyle and radio and TV. The announcement style TVs that present service information as well as the only regional station ‘Epohi’ TV have disappeared. The sports TV projects do not function (with the exception of the TV of FC ‘Levski 1914’). At least formally the ‘music online TVs’ are the largest number. However, the research showed that behind this title on some of the platforms exist websites with pornographic content. Most of them are announced as pop-folk music TVs. The main problem in making web TVs in Bulgarian is the ambiguity of who is expected to watch them. Apart from regional TVs everyone else say they a looking for their audience instead of building a message for a specific group.The text presents the state of the web TV in Bulgarian based on the results from the project ‘Web radio and TV in Bulgarian language’ funded by the Research fund of Sofia University with supervisor prof. DSc Snezhana Popova.It is hard to show precise data about the number of web TVs in Bulgarian or with Bulgarian addresses in 2017. The platforms do not use the term web TV, ‘online TV’. In 2017 three types of web TVs prove to be sustainable: regional, lifestyle and radio and TV. The announcement style TVs that present service information as well as the only regional station ‘Epohi’ TV have disappeared. The sports TV projects do not function (with the exception of the TV of FC ‘Levski 1914’). At least formally the ‘music online TVs’ are the largest number. However, the research showed that behind this title on some of the platforms exist websites with pornographic content. Most of them are announced as pop-folk music TVs. The main problem in making web TVs in Bulgarian is the ambiguity of who is expected to watch them. Apart from regional TVs everyone else say they a looking for their audience instead of building a message for a specific group.
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This paper represents a continuation of the previous publication “The Musical Instruments in the Early Vernacular Translations of the Psalms. Collective Research” (Museikon, 3, 2019, p. 67-140), henceforth abbreviated as Musical Instruments… 2019. The study will be continued in the next issue of Museikon (5, 2021), covering more languages and furthering the discussions.
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Over the last decades, the Strandzha region suffers a serious demographic crisis and the outflow of population results in significant change in the local culture. The empirical data of the current research is based on fieldwork in villages of Fakia (Central Strandzha, Sredets Municipality). The aim is to give a picture of the current condition of the folklore and religious culture through symbolic and specific phenomena. Enyova bulya custom is widely spread in Strandzha region and is conceived as an accent in the Enyovden (Yanovden) celebrations that take place on the 24th of June and is one of the main summer feast days until the ’60s of the 20th century. Enyova bulya is associated with fertility, maiden's transition and the well-being of the settlement community. Today, the custom is disconnected from the context of the festive life of the researched community as far as the world view of the main actors has been changed. Main doers are elderly women, the time of the celebrations is not exactly fixed thus the sacredness of the actions is automatically degenerated. A conclusion can be made that the custom nowadays has the characteristics of a tourist attraction in some aspects. Keeping the celebrations is perceived as a need to declare local identity and local diversity. The transformations in the religious culture of the researched community can be analysed in a similar direction. St. Modest cult (celebrated on December 18) is seen as “typical only for Strandzha region”. In the past, the cult is related to the local livelihood – livestock-raising and agriculture. For example, in Fakia village is believed that the woman that gives out ritual bread first will be the first to finish harvesting. Today, as a result of drastic changes in livelihood, the cult exists as a characteristic of local religious culture – grounds for the local dimensions of cultural identity. Anyway, ritual practices serve the local identity. Searching a motivation in tradition keeps alive a local peasant community in process of dramatic demographic and social crises in Strandzha region.
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The article presents religious practices and politics of memory, related to the cult of the “new martyrs” (“martyrs of totalitarianism”) in the Catholic Church in Bulgaria after 1989. The paper is based on terminological apparatus and methodology in the field of anthropology of memory and anthropology of religion, and describes the procedures of beatification of Blessed Eugene Bossilkov (beat. 1998) and bishops Fr. Kamen Vichev, Fr. Pavel Dzhidzov, Fr. Iosafat Shishkov (beat. 2002), Fr. Fortunat Bakalski, Fr. Rafael Peev, and others. The objective of this study is to elucidate major moments related to the institutionalisation of the cult, the processes of construction of sacredness, the creation of new religious practices, the commemoration practices, and the places of memory. The study explores the elements of the veneration of the “new martyrs” in Bulgaria, the connection between cult and history, and the issues of memory and the policies of memory as a form of heritage. The observations and the examples are obtained through field research and interviews conducted in several settlements in the Diocese of Sofia and Plovdiv and the Diocese of Nicopolis (primarily the towns of Plovdiv, Rakovski, Ruse, and Belene, the village of Oresh, and the city of Sofia). Relics, testimonies of martyrdom, stories of miracles, hagiographical and iconographical innovations, commemorational festivities, places of memory, related to the “new martyrs” – all of these are analysed through the prism of processes of invention of cultural-historical heritage, renovation of confessional identities, and creation of reworking models of traumatic memory in the period of socialism. The article looks for answers to the following questions: What is the character of the totalitarian martyrology in Bulgaria? How are the confessional consciousness of the Catholic communities and the character of their religious culture being transformed through the religious cults of the “new martyrs”?
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The study presents the contributions of Raina Katsarova (1901-1984) - one of the pioneers in establishing the Bulgarian traditional music in the first specializated music programs on Rodno Radio and Radio Sofia. It presents a researcher with experience in field work and thousands of recordings of traditional music, with publications of song collections and academic works, but also a citizen, cultural figure, public activist, media figure. The activities of Raina Katsarova as an educator, music journalist and media critic are discussed; her talks and song tales on the radio; her activities in defense of faith and rituals in the media of totalitarian Bulgaria; her role in publicizing Bulgarian traditional music on air around the world as an ambassador of Bulgarian culture, folklore and science. It is concluded that the traces of her activity in the media cover the history of Bulgarian radio, understood in the middle of the twentieth century as a public good and cultural force. It is clear to everyone that music on the radio matters. Raina Katsarova's radio appearances show how ethnomusicology is also important in and for radio.
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