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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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This article deals wiht the phenomenon of Jews that managed to escape from the ghettos and the camps in the territory of German-occupied Poland. In the analysis of the data from the encyclopaedia of the ghettos, published by the Institute Yad Vashem, as well as from the literature on the subject, the author found that at least 60 000 Jews has fled to the so called Aria area in occupied Poland.
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The article presents the development of the theoretical interest in dreaming as an object of anthropological analysis. The focus of attention is on dreams per se, along with dream interpretation, narration of dreams, and perceptions related to dreams in different cultures. Beyond their psychoanalytic interpretation, dreams are examined as a specific type of ethnographic material and a means of communication within the community and between the researcher and the researched. Dreaming is a universal human characteristic, but at the same time, the importance attached to dreams in different societies varies significantly. Based on the ethnographic examples presented in the article, the author have sought to answer the question what factors make dreams in some cultures to be considered an important source of information and even a field of action, while in others they are perceived as imaginary fragments with no relation to everyday life.
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The article has intended to study the action of Twitter-based media advocacy promoted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Government of India, and World Health Organization (WHO) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its goal was to assess the degree of the WHO and MOH's media campaigning for Covid-19, as well as the public's perception of this advocacy. In this regard, mixed methods have been used for data collection where a survey has been conducted with 125 respondents, who use Twitter, from Kolkata (India) with the help of random sampling. A content analysis of two well-known Twitter accounts was conducted, which helped to reflect the current trends that they follow. The findings of this research have reflected the choice of medium preferred by the respondents for receiving news and information during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also helped to identify the Twitter handles and tweets they mostly follow and thereby the major factors influencing their choice. The outcome of this research has helped to study whether Twitter can be used for institutionalized health communication or not in the future.
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Based on the analysis of the sources and academic literature, the article comprehensively presents a critical analysis of the activities of the Bulgarian Blagoev Commune. The article covers the details of the organisation and functioning of the collective, the tasks set by the Bolshevik authorities. The article characterises the process of adaptation to a different country, the relations of the members of the commune with the local population and ties to Ukrainian associations. The results and consequences of the economic and financial activities of the international commune on the territory of Ukraine are generalised. The authors draw attention to the fact that the conscientious work of the members of the commune was used by the political regime under the slogans of building a bright future for the sake of an unrealistic socialist goal. Special focus is put on the party and public activities of the members of the commune. The contradictory nature of the position of the Soviet government regarding the newly created collective, the evolution of its party and state policy and the tragic fate of the leadership of the commune in the 1930s are discussed. The article outlines the recommendations on the practical application of the historical experience of the international collective in the context of international cooperation.
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The dumb blonde figure is very popular in the repertoire of international jokes and is characterized by two main qualities: stupidity and promiscuity. These features are also shared by jokes which have circulated in Bulgaria since the 1990s. Researchers view dumb blonde jokes as a consequence of the increasing presence of women in professional and public life in positions which were traditionally considered ‘male’ spheres. The jokes are a reaction to radical transformations in social values and also a specific response to problematized male identities. Over the course of time, the image of the blonde has undergone certain changes as the sexual innuendo has faded and stupidity has become the main object of ridicule. In this way, the blonde has become a version of the classical personage of the fool whose role has always been substantial in the processes of self-identification, whether they be national, social, ethnic, local, or regional in character. In this respect, the blonde represented in such jokes has the potential to become a universal archetype, since her image combines two major identity markers: gender, and more generally, cultural affiliation.
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The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for many marginal political groups to increase their popularity and enter the mainstream with their narrative. This is also the case with the Polish far-right. The research discussed in the following text concerned the message of the Polish extreme right during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), both what changed in this message and what remained unchanged. Using data from social media, online and offline publications, reports from events, and interviews with key informants, the author sought to understand how COVID-19 has changed the behaviour and narratives of far-right groups in Poland. The analysis was structured around two meta-narratives: one anti-liberal and the other geopolitical, each containing several sub-narratives. As a result of this analysis PiS and its closest allies from the world of politics and media turned out to be one of the leading promoters of various anti-liberal concepts and social and systemic solutions, especially those concerning reproductive and LGBT rights created in the far-right circles. PiS politicians often drew their slogans and ideas from the ideological resources of the far-right, directly copying their language and rhetoric and often even immediate solutions.
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The article studies the winter masquerade custom of Turka, as the central object of investigation is its variant from the Romanian village of Cuciulata in Transylvania. In the course of more than a century, the outlook of this mask has remained almost unchanged. The author offers analyses on the altering functions of the mask as an artefact playing the roles of a ritual object and a museum exponent.
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The article discusses notions referring to the ruler and his body according to the pagan views of the Bulgarians in the epoch before Christianity was adopted in the Bulgarian lands. Drawing on written sources and material evidence, an attempt is made to interpret ideas, signs and objects which form the system of the ruler’s ideology. Typological similarities are pointed out between the ruler’s ideology of the Bulgarians and that of the peoples of the Eurasian Steppes, Central Asia, and with other peoples from the Migration period.
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In 2015, a serious crisis called the “refugee crisis” took place. Migrations had already taken place before, primarily in connection with armed conflicts, but the largest number of asylum applications was received in 2015 and was therefore described as the beginning of the crisis. One of the apprehensions in the European Union Member States about the reception of migrants was cultural differences and religion. The purpose of this study is to determine violations of various types of religious freedoms in all the EU Member States. The period 2015-2019 was considered in connection with the largest influx of refugees and before the next crisis on a huge scale, i.e., the coronavirus pandemic. The study will provide an answer to the question: what religious freedoms were violated in the years 2015-2019 in the EU Member States? In connection with increased migrations, were there more violations of the types of religious freedom related to refugees? The source analysis of the United States Department of State reports was used for the study. An assessment of restrictions on religious freedom will be made at the level of what extent and against whom were supposed to protect political nations. On this basis, it will be possible to compare all countries in terms of solutions characteristic of neo-militant democracies regarding respect for religious freedom.
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The recent minorities in Sibiu are at an early stage in the development of organizational structures, trying to make their voice heard regarding certain issues that affect its members.This policy paper aims to facilitate the offer of public policies solutions for the recent minorities in Sibiu: Arab, Bessarabian, Ukrainian, and Chinese, to identify solutions that may have a common denominator, to establish a way of cooperation, and to inspire the development of joined projects. As a result of the workshop, the policy paper will be sent to the institutions and authorities with attributions in this field.
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The purpose of this text is to take up an analysis of forms of civil disobedience, occurred during the pandemic in Europe. Referring to works of such authors as H. Arendt,J. Habermas, J. Rawls we argue that civil disobedience, more or less contextual and varying, depending on the phase of the pandemic and on the country, has lead to the crisis of representative democracy and to the crisis of the art of governing (in technical and strictly legal terms) of the expert type. In the same time, civil disobedience has been a manifestation of the vitality of a democratic life. Disobedience can be seen as a sovereign political act – a consequence of a conviction that trust agreement between the ruling and the governed has been broken. Thus the disobedience aims at fixing it. In this sense, the civil disobedience became the collective reflective moment of democratic life in the meaning of U. Beck (2001).
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The article explores the impact of the miner strike movement in Donbas on the post--communist transition in Ukraine from 1989 to 1994. By focusing on the Donbas strike movement, its relationship with the nationalist intelligentsia, and a later co-optation of its mobilizing potential by regional elites, it provides an analysis of the agency of bottom-up social forces operating within a particular cultural framework during the transition period. The striking miners played a significant role in the reclamation of Ukrainian independence in 1991. Building on this momentum, Donbas politicians were able to politicize the already existing socio-cultural diversity of Ukrainian society and to define the fundamental political cleavage in Ukraine in self-serving, regionalist terms.
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In many of the world's armed conflicts, the health sector has become a target of attacks, and the number of such attacks has increased significantly in recent years. The impact and consequences of armed conflict on health care are far-reaching and long-lasting. In addition to the direct casualties of armed conflict, indirect casualties remain significantly underestimated. The unstable situation as a result of armed conflict leads to the abandonment of preventive programs, the delay of diagnosis, or the abrupt interruption of the therapeutic process, which significantly reduces the prognosis of patients and leads to an increase in mortality. Mass migration, including the migration of patients, shortages of medicines and medical equipment, interrupted basic and clinical research, the mental strain on the population, or staff shortages, have a significant burden on the health sector. This article attempts to collect and describe the key problems faced by health systems affected by armed conflict, using examples in the context of the current war in Ukraine, among others. This paper aims to conduct an analytical study to develop recommendations for the health sector facing a humanitarian crisis. It describes the findings of a literature review regarding the impact of armed conflict on the health sector. The collected literature was the subject of critical analysis. The conclusions drawn were placed in the context of the current conflict in Ukraine.
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The late 1990s, when censorship was introduced in China, was a watershed moment for many Chinese companies. At that time, as many Western applications became banned in China, Chinese entrepreneurs began to develop their products at a much faster pace. An example is Tencent company which launched the WeChat application, which revolutionized the E-commerce market in China within just a few years. Chinese E-commerce differs from the Western Internet markets by the characteristics of consumer behavior, shopping platforms, or brands, which is a new co-creation model among consumers and brands. The given research paper presents a fragment of the results of own research conducted among the entrepreneurs and individuals who use the WeChat application for business or/and private purposes in China. The aim of the following study is to present the Chinese E-commerce market, and the difference between the Western and Chinese customer approaches in the example of the WeChat application. The research method used is a WeChat application case study in China. The source of the work is an analysis of the literature query in the field of E-commerce, analysis of the statistical data, and primary data, i.e., a fragment of the results of the pilot own research.
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The article is the result of a field study in 2020 in the village of Varvara, Septemvri municipality, on the current state of women’s folk two-part singing. The ethnomusicological interpretation is made on the basis of a comparative analysis between theoretical studies on performance practices, an audio archive of the women’s vocal group at the National Culture Center “Peasant Awakening – 1927”, made in the early 1990s, and the most modern field materials from 2020. Passing through certain periods, the musical model becomes a village cultural value bequeathed from the past, which is preserved and safeguarded through certain forms of stage activity. Today, it is part of the intangible cultural heritage and ‘lives’ mainly through the community center and the practice of a certain generation.
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The subject of this text is the study of the ritual practice associated with summoning of demonic beings – Queen of Spades and Bloody Mary. The purpose of the text is to characterize the specific process of summoning ghosts, as well as to look for the prototypes of the considered female figures. The different conditions under which the sessions take place, their socio-historical context and the characters anchoring in popular culture, being its product, are compared. Attention is also paid to the social function of such practices, with an emphasis on their psychological interpretation. Queen of Spades and Bloody Mary are perceived as manifestations of fear, but at the same time, they are its antipodes, and the roots of this statement are sought in the initiation practices among adolescents associated with the transition to adulthood.
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