Bulgarian Culture

Posted on February 13, 2008
Filed Under Bulgaria |

Bulgarian culture is a mix mostly of Thracian, Slavic and Bulgar cultures, but there are Byzantine, Turkish, Greek and other influences.

Bulgarian is a South Slavic language written in the Cyrillic alphabet and remains one of the strong bonding points between Bulgarians and Russians. Russian is the second language of older Bulgarians. Younger people are more likely to be interested in speaking a version of English peppered with classic rock lyrics and advertising slogans. Bulgarians waggle their heads Indian-style to mean yes, and nod to mean no.

The earliest monuments are the drawings found in the Magura cave (Second Millennium BC), the remains from Palaeolitic cultures in several caves in Stara planina (Balkan Mountains) and the Rhodope Mountains. Traces of some seaside Neolithic and Palaeolithic cultures have been found in the areas of cape Kaliakra and the southern seaside town Ahtopol.

The Kazanluk tomb and the Sveshtare tomb are remarkable monuments of the Thracian art. The Kazanluk tomb is from the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The murals on the walls of the tomb reflect battle scenes and the symbolic farewell with the Thracian ruler accompanied by three racing chariots. The Sveshtare tomb is built in the first half of the 3rd century BC. The chamber was decorated as a facade of a temple with depicted horseman who takes a golden garland from the hands of a goddess with a religious procession following her.

Most of the remains are indicative of high level masterful use materials such as clay, kaolin, stone, wood, bronze and iron. The remains of pottery and other household ware dating back to the late Palaeolithic and the early Neolithic Ages found near Nova Zagora are extremely interesting and unique. This is the reason why the Karanovska Mound was called “the Noah’s Ark” of European civilisation as it exhibits seven consecutive archaeological cultural layers. There are some of the first signs of the future archaic Mediterranean culture in it, which, along with the development of trade, became a model to whole Old World. The Hotnitsa treasure, which was found among the remains of a late Eneolithic building (2nd half of 5th millenium BC) and mostly the findings in the Necropolis of Varna (the late Eneolithic period) are indisputable evidence of the existence of well-developed civilisation in Southeastern Europe. Quite impressive are the settlement mounds (8th-6th centuries BC) in the Eastern Rhodopes, Strandzha and Sakar Mountains, which illustrate the construction mastership of the Thracians in the early Iron Age.

Whole ancient cities have been restored. Some of them are Augusta Trajana, Apolonia, Trimoncium, Nicopolis ad Istrum etc. Under the capital city Sofia have been found thousands square meters of ruins from the ancient city Serdica. In the Middle Ages massive fortifications, monumental castles, temples and basilicas are built in the Old Bulgarian capitals Pliska and Veliki Preslav.

One can get acquainted with the pre-historic culture of Bulgaria mainly through the exhibitions displayed at the Archaeological Museum and the National Museum of History in Sofia and through the exhibits in the local museums in Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Nova Zagora, Varna, Rousse, Veliko Tarnovo, Razgrad, Vidin, Bourgas, etc.

Festivals and customs

Bulgarian festivals and customs date back to ancient times when men tried to appease the natural elements and trembled before their power. Full of beauty, gaiety, mystical voices, fiery dances and brightly colored costumes - Bulgarian folklore has to be seen, felt and experienced!

Fire dancing is the most ancient mysterious ritual - barefooted dancers performing on burning embers. This religious and mystical ritual for expelling illness, for health and fruitfulness is one that must be seen to believe it.

The Festival of Roses is a lovely festival celebrated in the Rose Valley near the town of Kazanluk (at the foot of the Balkan Range) on the first weekend of June every year. The festival is a pageant of beauty in the unique Rose Valley. In the run-up of the event, a Queen Rose beauty contest is held in several rounds. Artists, actors, circus performers, writers and singers flock to Kazanluk at the start of June. The Bulgarian oleaginous rose yields 70 percent of the world’s attar of roses used by every perfume company as an essential component of its products.

Kukeri Carnival held in the region of Dupnitsa and Pernik is a splendid festival of brightly colored masks and costumes which marks the beginning of the spring. Every participant makes his own multi-coloured personal mask, covered with beads, ribbons and woollen tassels. The heavy swaying of the main mummer is meant to represent wheat heavy with grain, and the bells tied around the waist are intended to drive away the evil spirits and the sickness.

The Bulgarian voices are called to be mystery. Experts are still trying to explain the incredible range of the Bulgarian voice and the variety of songs. Its unique sound was universally acknowledged by the fact that the popular Rhodope song “Izlel e Delyu hiadutin” sung by the talented singer Valya Balkanska was recorded on a gold record and was sent as a message to outer space on the American spaceship Voyager in 1977. The world is discovering it again and again at major folklore and song contests in Italy, France, England and Ireland from which the Bulgarian music and dance ensembles invariably walk off with the first prizes.

The folk festivals “Pirin Sings” and Rozhen Sings are the best-known Bulgarian folklore festivals. Last year alone, some 150 000 visitors from Bulgaria and abroad came together to witness the show by the 4 000 performers on each festival. They came not only to see these inspiring events, but also to learn about the curious world of Bulgarian folklore traditions.

Applied crafts have gradually emerged from the narrow frame work of strictly domestic life to become an art which breeds art: Bulgarian embroidery with its intricate geometrical figures, Bulgarian rugs and carpets with their vibrant colours, exquisitely painted Bulgarian ceramics, finely ornamented Bulgarian fretwork and superbly fashioned Bulgarian jewellery.

The Samovodene Market in Veliko Turnovo, the Permanent National Exhibition of Folk Art in Oreshak near Troyan and the Etura architectural and ethnographic complex near Gabrovo are all original museums of the revived beauty of Bulgarian handicrafts. You are bound to find your own particular memento from Bulgaria here - a small carved wooden wine vessel, a Troyan pottery set, a fleecy Rhodope rug, an original piece of silver jewellery, a finely embroidered silk blouse or a colourful carpet.

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