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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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The article is based on a massive of poorly known archival documents dating from1888 and 1889 and preserved at the Scientific Archives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. These handwritten documents provide information for the population of Bulgaria on its entire territory and describe the different varieties of local costumes atthe end of the 19th century. Photographic images are also added to illustrate the written descriptions. The author focusses her attention on those documents in the massive which indicate that some of the Gagauz women wore shalwars and finds that by theend of the 19th century the garment under consideration was quite popular amongthem. The pattern and manner of wearing such shalwars clearly shows that they wereearlier worn predominantly by Muslim women but were further “adopted” by theOrthodox Gagauz women in the period of modernization of the Ottoman Empire.
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The Russian Chronograph is one of the most significant chronicles in Russian literature. It has several redactions – the First from 1512, the Basic from 1617 and the West Russian from the middle of the 16th century. Each of the variants contains information about Bulgarian history from the settlement of the Proto-Bulgarians in the Danube River area until the death of Tsar Mihail III Shishman. The West Russian version differs because of the distinct sources used in its compilation. This peculiarity is also noticed in the evidence on Bulgarian history, which has not yet been the subject of independent research.
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Documentary compilation review
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Nowadays in Istanbul, Turkey, there is a Bulgarian colony, which was created after the Second Balkan War and the First World War. It was not related to the Bulgarians in Constantinople from the times of the Bulgarian National Revival, but through the Foundation of Bulgarian Orthodox Churches in Istanbul as established, it was their legal successor. The Foundation was also the formal owner of that part of the Bulgarian exarchal properties in Turkey which the Turkish State returned. Lifting the schism was an act of international and internal political importance. This act put an end to the use of the Exarchy as a mean to unite all the Bulgarians within the borders of a new Bulgaria according to the Treaty of San Stefano. In essence, this was a retreat from the national ideal. The conditions for lifting the schism, the closing of the Exarchal Vicegerency and the unresolved status of the Bulgarian Church Community deprived the Bulgarians in the Republic of Turkey of Bulgarian representation on church affairs and predetermined their remaining within the diocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This issue has consequences even nowadays.
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The text explores the existing information about the last song Vasil Levski was sing before being hanged in terms of the truth or mystifica¬tions that contains or “produces” the memory in opposition or dialogizing with the historical fact about the death of the Apostle. The main question is – where, in the context of the various interpretations, is “situated” the folk knowledge that before the hanging Vasil Levski was sing a song in the Turkish language – in the field of the experience, preserved in memory and accepted as authentic, on the verbal history through subjective narrative or in the sphere of the manipulable memory?
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The text presents the changes in the images of the Red Army from oral stories in Bulgaria. The relation between memory and history creates tension in the images reaching us today because they are related to what is absent in the present time and although they use the same resources coming from the past, their functioning is different. Individual memories, collective memories and historical discourse interact and define each other thus constructing, reconstructing and sometimes “inventing” different versions of the past. Nowadays we see the construction of events and the shaping of mass media messages aiming at focusing the empathy people of different generations with the memory of the past on the heroic aspect only – the victory over Hitlerism. “The Immortal Regiment” initiative is a form of ritual resurrection of significant deceased – through it not only the heroes are rationalized as (“eternally”) living, but at the same time the conditionally “neutral” Soviet soldiers are turned into significant ones even for the people in Bul¬garia, therefore indisputably opposing to the image of the “Red Army soldiers”, which are not only insignificant – anonymous and without image, but are also burdened with negative connotations in memory. That way, by constructing images from the past (as it is not clear whether the people in the photographs were real participants in the war, real heroes), considering also the absence of personification of the heroes and the idea of achieving large numbers of people at which the procession with the photographs aims, the topic of the Soviet Army acquires new meanings. The event has an effect on the already existing image shaped by the memories, and gradually changes it. That is the reason why the oral stories about the time the Red Army was in Bulgaria are more important for us, as much as the memory (of the local community) is seen as a matrix of history containing concepts affecting the present related to the past (Ricoeur 2006). Oral stories have the expressiveness of the narrative of witnesses, the power of the first-person story; such stories, when shared with the next generations, happen to be the most important part of the history, knowledge of the recent past that may fade in people’s memories but is preserved as a document of the period.
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This article is for priest Stoitsa from village of Relyovo, near Samokov town, member of a cabal, established in 1730 in the Gornolozenski monastery “Saint Spas,” head of which was the notable Bulgarian bishop Simeon Popovich. Priest Stoitsa prepared the people of the eparchy for uprising. He is captured in the monastery near village of Nedelishte. He is hanged on 21.08.1737 in Sofia together with/collectively with Bishop Simeon Samokovski and many others.
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Пограничният район Мала Преспа на югозападния бряг на Го¬лямото Преспанско езеро се характеризира с изолацията си от останалата част на Албания. Тази изолация се простира далеч извън географските измерения – отразява се в социализацията на населе¬нието и в контактите с останалите сънародници. Фокусът на статията е върху българомакедонското малцинство, обитаващо девет села на албанския бряг на Голямото Преспанско езеро. Основна тема е почитаният празник на Света Марина (30 юли) и ролята му като съ¬битие, обединяващо българомакедонското малцинство от деветте села, както и от по-далечни дестинации. В допълнение, се представя и мястото на провеждане – манастирът „Света Марина“ край село Туминец. Свидетелствата, доказващи колко забележимо и значител¬но място заема той в народната вяра, се откриват в легенди, сънища и истории за него. Статията се базира основно на теренни етнографски материали, събрани в или в близост до селата Туминец и Зрноско през юли и октомври 2017 г. Ключови изводи относно положението на населението там са: – местните се чувстват обединени в малцинствената си роля и смятат традицията да се празнува Света Марина за един от начините да изразят своята принадлежност;– вярата в светицата остава силна, като същевременно в практи¬ките личи съвременният подход да се обедини религиозното честване с добавяне на множество елементи, типични за селски събор.
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During the Early Christian period, life at Vinicko Kale was intensive, if we take into account the discovery of the Terracotta Reliefs – one of a kind in the world. Till now, thirty motifs have been found that date from the end of the 5th and the 6th century. Themes are taken from the Bible, the Old Testimony scenes are presented, psalms are illustrated, psalm Chris¬tian depictions and characters of the Christian saints are represented. In the collection of the world famous Terracotta reliefs discovered on Vinicko Kale, every motif is a rare and unique item. That is the case with the reliefs dedicated to St. Christopher and St. George, winners over death. These two saints belong to the category of the most respected saints and to the order of the greatest martyrs for the Christian faith from the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century. The uniqueness of this motif refers to the depictions of St. Christopher with the dog’s head which is the earliest one in the Republic of North Macedo¬nia and of St. George with a beard ( his usual iconographic characteristics being young, beardless and with thick curly hair ) as the earliest examples of such iconography. It is interesting that the cult of St. George has sur¬vived till today, not only in Macedonia but wider, in the orthodox Chris¬tian countries, whilst the cult of St. Christopher has been vanishing here in Macedonia so we cannot claim that this saint was especially respected and that there was a great developed cult connected to him. There is more than one legend connected to the life of the saint. De¬pending on whether the legends originated within the influence of the Western or Eastern Church, his biography, has, more or less, different contents. The depictions of St. Christopher with the dog’s head can be met in the medieval frescos in various countries, and here in Macedonia there are frescos and icons painted by our zographers at the end of the 19th century.
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Five international expedition of the project “Cave research of the Holy Mountain Athos – Greece” took place in 2016 and 2017. This phase of the project was organized by the Bulgarian Caving Society (BCS). The explorations were focused in the surroundings of Bulgarian Orthodox Monastery „St. Georgi Zograph“. 46 natural and artificial caves with total length were explored and surveyed. 32 of them were artificial. From a functional point of view, artificial caves are divided into 4 categories: Water collection galleries Kariz, Ganats; Drainage channels; Fountains with tanks attached to them behind water; Tanks. The work analyses the construction of the underground structures. Description of the most important of them is given.
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This paper studies the contribution of eminent personalities of the Bulgarian Diaspora in Bessarabia, Tavria and Herson Gubernias (administra¬tive regions of the former Russian Empire) to the “building” of the modern Bulgarian state after the liberation from the Ottoman rule in 1878.This paper studies the contribution of eminent personalities of the Bulgarian Diaspora in Bessarabia, Tavria and Herson Gubernias (administrative regions of the former Russian Empire) to the “building” of the modern Bulgarian state after the liberation from the Ottoman rule in 1878.
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The text analyzes the information about the burial of Avksentiy Veleshki in Constantinople in 1865. The post-mortem reign of the late bishop is commensurate with his great merit in the struggle for church independence of Bulgarians in the 19th century and reflects the cultural interactions in funeral practices and everyday life in the multinational capital of the Ottoman Empire. The merits of Avksentiy Veleshki for the Bulgarian church cause are also highlighted in the funeral speech, in the panahids in the big Bulgarian cities, as well as in the burial ritual made in the Turkish capital of Constantinople.The text analyzes the information about the burial of Avksentiy Veleshki in Constantinople in 1865. The post-mortem reign of the late bishop is commensurate with his great merit in the struggle for church independence of Bulgarians in the 19th century and reflects the cultural interactions in funeral practices and everyday life in the multinational capital of the Ottoman Empire. The merits of Avksentiy Veleshki for the Bulgarian church cause are also highlighted in the funeral speech, in the panahids in the big Bulgarian cities, as well as in the burial ritual made in the Turkish capital of Constantinople.
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The text presents the results from the realized fieldwork in June 2017 among Bulgarian Catholics in Banat Region, Romania. It is presented a possible view to the contemporary state of these Bulgarians, who have been living for almost 3 centuries in a foreign-ethnic and foreign-language environment, and the importance of the community memory for the conservation of the identity.
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Seven generations leave their fingerprints on each of us according to a number of genetics specialists. Sooner or later, every person asks, “Who am I? Where and where do I go?” We have personal close contact at best with 2–3 generations of them. The other we know from the stories of our closest relatives, which gradually fade with time. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we can find more accurate information from the books if our ancestors were famous people or left a scar. Most are in oblivion. Today, people know little about their distant relatives, although interest in family roots is growing. In the past, it was a sacred duty for everyone to honor and respect their ancestors and keep their memory. The legacy of seven generations is by father and mother. Further, heredity weakens and does not play a particu¬lar role. It may seem a little like that. But if we consider Fibonacci’s “rab¬bit” task, there are 126 people. They all live in us and carry this ocean of qualities and flaws that defines our lives.Folk Orthodox Christianity in Bulgaria is a product of Bulgarian Orthodox mentality: this is the canonical knowledge that partially alters its form in time under the pressure of extreme external factors but retains its core relatively unchanged. It has indirect expression in all folk forms while the direct one is in the Christian prayer, rituals, and different beliefs. An interesting manifestation of folk Orthodoxy in the Orthodox temples of the town of Samokov is the practice that could hardly be defined as “canonical” or “non-canonical”: in the chairs, which are also called the thrones in the churches, are placed paper plates with names of parishioners. These are people who paid a certain amount of money to the temple so that the church board put their names and they could use these chairs during the liturgy: they stayed each in front of his/her chair and sit down when it was allowed to sit. It was considered to be especially prestigious to have a throne (chair) in the temple and the deprivation of this privilege was regarded as a major insult. As a rule, people who took care of the church, donated money and worked as volunteers had such chairs/ thrones. Name plates are always present in the temple space, so the person symbolically “always attends” the temple and liturgy. The beginning of this practice can be placed after the end of the fifteenth century when bishop thrones were placed in the Orthodox churches. Its ubiquitous dissemination dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The peak was in the 19th century, when after the age of the Tanzimat (1839) began the intensive construction of orthodox churches in the Bulgarian lands. It should be borne in mind that the name plates on the chairs in the churches could play their role only when the literacy among the Bulgarians became widespread in the first half of the 19th century and there was a public that could read the names. Folk Orthodox Christianity in Bulgaria is a product of Bulgarian Orthodox mentality: this is the canonical knowledge that partially alters its form in time under the pressure of extreme external factors but retains its core relatively unchanged. It has indirect expression in all folk forms while the direct one is in the Christian prayer, rituals, and different beliefs. An interesting manifestation of folk Orthodoxy in the Orthodox temples of the town of Samokov is the practice that could hardly be defined as “canonical” or “non-canonical”: in the chairs, which are also called the thrones in the churches, are placed paper plates with names of parishioners. These are people who paid a certain amount of money to the temple so that the church board put their names and they could use these chairs during the liturgy: they stayed each in front of his/her chair and sit down when it was allowed to sit. It was considered to be especially prestigious to have a throne (chair) in the temple and the deprivation of this privilege was regarded as a major insult. As a rule, people who took care of the church, donated money and worked as volunteers had such chairs/ thrones. Name plates are always present in the temple space, so the person symbolically “always attends” the temple and liturgy. The beginning of this practice can be placed after the end of the fifteenth century when bishop thrones were placed in the Orthodox churches. Its ubiquitous dissemination dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The peak was in the 19th century, when after the age of the Tanzimat (1839) began the intensive construction of orthodox churches in the Bulgarian lands. It should be borne in mind that the name plates on the chairs in the churches could play their role only when the literacy among the Bulgarians became widespread in the first half of the 19th century and there was a public that could read the names.Seven generations leave their fingerprints on each of us according to a number of genetics specialists. Sooner or later, every person asks, “Who am I? Where and where do I go?” We have personal close contact at best with 2–3 generations of them. The other we know from the stories of our closest relatives, which gradually fade with time. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we can find more accurate information from the books if our ancestors were famous people or left a scar. Most are in oblivion. Today, people know little about their distant relatives, although interest in family roots is growing. In the past, it was a sacred duty for everyone to honor and respect their ancestors and keep their memory. The legacy of seven generations is by father and mother. Further, heredity weakens and does not play a particular role. It may seem a little like that. But if we consider Fibonacci’s “rabbit” task, there are 126 people. They all live in us and carry this ocean of qualities and flaws that defines our lives.
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The current research is dedicated to Dimitar Yanakiev Biserov – Okoliyata. He is one of the most active Dupnitsa’s revolutionary and clerical apostle of Northern Macedonia until the Liberation. A fighter for spiritual freedom, a teacher, a poet, a translator, a clergyman, a correspondent a founder of Dupnitsa Lyceum Zora – these are the actions of this great but slightly known Dupnitsa’s man of letters. He is born around 1830 in Dupnitsa town and died from tuberculosis in 1886. He attended the town cell’s schools and Rila monastery school. However, he educated himself throughout his entire life and became one of the most erudite people for his time. Gradually he changed the Church Slavonic books and intro¬duced grammar, geography, history. He is also an author of hand written textbooks. He even took part in Teachers’ Diocesan Congregation held in the town of Samokov in 1847. Dimitar Biserov is a disciple of Hristaki Pavlovich in the fight against the use of Turkish words in the spoken Bulgarian language and writing. He is the author of first Turkish-Bulgarian dictionary before the Liberation. Eager to learn and very active he corresponded with Stefan Verkovich, P. R. Slaveykov and other Bulgarian men of learning. His works were published in several newspapers and magazines issues and they show his versatile interests. He worked in cooperation with the periodical magazine of Bulgarian book Organization in Braila and promulgated folk songs, sayings, riddles, proverbs gathered from Dupnitsa region. He participated in the struggle for church independence by writing his enthusiastic poem “Reshenieto na Bulgarskia tsarkoven vapros”, published in the Constantinople’s magazine “Chitalishte” on 1st June, 1871. Tihomir Medzhidiev published for the first time the original manuscript of the poem in his book “Dupnitsa –Christianity, Islam, Judaism”. The history of Dupnitsa lyceum Zora is related to Dimitar Biserov. The lyceum founded in 1858 claims to be the fourth lyceum in Bulgarian lands. Born in humble circumstances, Dimitar Biserov gives his significant contribution for social and cultural uplift. In his personality and achieve¬ments we may recognize the typical features of Bulgarian Renaissance intelligence and its moral image.
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The text describes the history of a family from Samokov named Kotsevi from the XVIII century to the present day. It`s based on a unpublished archive, containing: memories written by Asen Kotsev, a family tree (incomplete) and four pictures. During his work, the author has found more data, which is mentioned in the text. It all begins with the figure of captain Nikola Altsek. There was migration from Albania to the village of Popovyane and then to the town of Samokov. In addition to the history of the family, the text also describes the connections of the family with other families, the occasions of individual members of the family and their houses and private property. Kotsevi were repressed by the Communist regime in Bulgaria (1944–1989). Some, like Kostadin Kotsev were killed. Sotir Kotsev got all his property confiscated by the communist state. Some of these researches are part of a book written by the author, which was published in November 2018.The text describes the history of a family from Samokov named Kotsevi from the XVIII century to the present day. It`s based on a unpublished archive, containing: memories written by Asen Kotsev, a family tree (incomplete) and four pictures. During his work, the author has found more data, which is mentioned in the text. It all begins with the figure of captain Nikola Altsek. There was migration from Albania to the village of Popovyane and then to the town of Samokov. In addition to the history of the family, the text also describes the connections of the family with other families, the occasions of individual members of the family and their houses and private property. Kotsevi were repressed by the Communist regime in Bulgaria (1944–1989). Some, like Kostadin Kotsev were killed. Sotir Kotsev got all his property confiscated by the communist state. Some of these researches are part of a book written by the author, which was published in November 2018.
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In the paper, the author traces the transformations of St. George’s Day in Mezdra from a church observation and traditional rural festival to the town’s holiday. The whole palette of events and messages that build the festive line and the image of the nowadays Mezdra is presented, as well as the connection between representations of the local cultural practices and memory of death soldiers as a national commemorative tradition.
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