The Rich Bulgarian Culture

Old house click on image to view big picture

Beauty is part of the Bulgarian heart and soul, and the Bulgarian people have a tradition of working to create beauty. Architecture, house interior and tools, dances, and crafts - all of these harmoniously combine colours and sounds, warmth and comfort. Every culture that has inhabited Bulgarian lands has left its cultural heritage to the subsequent generations. Bulgaria's stunning variety of folklore and lifestyles is a blending of Thracian, Slav, and Proto-Bulgarian traditions. Customs, rites, national costumes, and songs are specific to each region, but are united by the 13-century history and have helped the preservation of the Bulgarian national spirit throughout the centuries. Elements of pagan ritual are still to be found in national customs (kukeri, fire-dancing). Some pagan holidays were transformed into Christian ones, so that both a pagan and Christian element have persisted through the centuries. Most of the calendar and work holidays are of pagan origin. The custom of making martenitzi out of white and red threads for good health is unique. Bulgarians have borrowed cultural elements from the numerous Balkan invaders and conquerors. They have thus enriched their traditions in costume, lifestyle and rites, even during the long years of Turkish rule.

Holidays and Music

Gaidar click on image to view big picture

Bulgarian national holidays and rites are cheerful and vivid. Forgotten elements of this cultural heritage of calendar and family holidays, and of national creativity fairs are being revived. Lively singing competitions dedicated to folkmusic are organized in the Karandila region near Sliven, Shiroka Luka, Rozhen, Undola, Predela, Dorkovo village, Koprivshtitza, and Kotel. Bulgaria is the native land of Orpheus and the mythological symbol of musical perfection. In the 14th century, Joan Kukuzel the Angel Voiced reformed the Eastern Orthodox Church music. Authentic folklore has preserved its variety ranging from the Strandzha Bulgarians' fire dances, through the Tracian horo and rachenitza dances, to the kukeri dances in the Graovo villages. Nowadays, the worldwide exigent audience loudly applauds Bulgarian singers, musicians, and dancers, including Trio Bulgarka, The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices, Kushlevi Sisters, Valia Balkanska, Ivo Papazov and Theodosii Spasov. A Rhodopes song has been traveling into space on the Voyager 2 with the best specimens of human science and culture.

Handicrafts

Handicrafts click on image to view big picture

Bulgarians are skillfull with textile, clay, wood, stone, and metal. Nature is present in the bright colors of hand-made fabrics and vessels. The interiors of houses are decorated according to the owners' personal taste; they are arranged in a comfortable, quiet, and cozy way. Carved, wooden walls, ceilings, doors, and closets preserve the calm and the silence of bygone days. Decorated pottery and fleecy rugs covering the floors and plank-beds delight the eye. Unique Bulgarian pottery is produced in Troyan, Busintzi, Bansko, Razlog, and Gabrovo. The national costumes are distinctly Bulgarian, yet particular to each region. Women invent the varied patterns in clothes and rugs, create models, add elements and colors, and create beauty. Many families have preserved the tradition of weaving Chiprovtzi, Kotel, and Samokov type rugs. Bulgarian rugs were once sold throughout the Ottoman Empire and beyond. Chiprovtzi rugs from West Stara Planina are similar to those from Kotel, East Stara Planina in terms of weaving technology, but they differ in color and ornamentation. In the Rhodopes Mountains, the famous fleecy rugs are made on looms of quite different form and structure, and their colorful compositions are characteristic expressions of the Rhodopes woman's conception of life.

Village Life

Melnik click on image to view big picture

Bulgarian spirit and character are rooted in the Bulgarian village - a sort of cultural and ethnographic reserve in our modern world of the new millennium. Traditional villages provide the unique opportunity to feel and experience a lifestyle that goes back to epochs and cultures of which the modern European has only fleeting memories. The rural areas of Bulgaria have a rare combination of a preserved natural environment and lifestyle that has remained unchanged for centuries and modern day business, cuisine, entertainment and conveniences.

Unique Residences

Old house click on image to view big picture

Architects have erected unique and original houses, clock towers, bridges, fountains, and wells in a sort of unofficial Bulgarian architectural "contest". There are interesting and diverse house types in Teteven, Koprivshtitsa, Western Bulgaria, Stara planina, Rhodopes, Strandzha, Black Sea Coast, Plovdiv, and Dobrudzha. The yards of these houses overflow with fragrant flower gardens; Bulgarian Wed, 22 August, 2007 15:22 flower colors in their gardens. Architectural and historical reserves include: Koprivshtitza, Kovachevitza, Dolen, Zheravna, Kotel, Medven, Arbanasi, Bozhentzi, Melnik, Bansko, Sozopol, Nesebar (on the list of UNESCO world cultural and natural heritage), Zlatograd, Brushlian, Stoilovo, Stefanovo, Triavna, Plovdiv, Lovech, Veliko Tirnovo, and Shiroka Luka.

Food from the Land

The Bulgarian fruit and vegetable, and the farmyard with domestic animals, have been constant and persisting traits of Bulgarian rural life for centuries. The diverse Bulgarian farmyard is a sort of oasis, which has preserved ecologically pure and natural food. One can taste delicious cherries in May, as well as sweet medlars in December. One can savor tender lamb on St. Georges day, and juicy pork steak and pickles during Christmas holidays. The homemade yogurt and cheese and the fine sparkling wine, blending a bouquet of different flavors of grapes that have been ripened by the warm sun, are exceptional and unique ly Bulgarian. Traditional Bulgarian cuisine offers unique and distinct recipes - cheverme, patatnik, and langiur in the Rhodopes Mountains; and kavarma, shtirnik and prosenik in North Bulgaria.