3422 BULGARIA - Old winemaking

Grape growing and wine production have a long history in Bulgaria, dating back to the times of the Thracians, who used wine not only as a drink on the table but channel between people and gods. It was a divine drink. Zagreus, somehow the Thracian analog of the Greek god Dionysus, was worshiped by the Thracians as the god of wine and merriment. Unfortunately, the tradition was interrupted for 500 years, how long this region was part of the Ottoman Empire, a state dedicated to expanding the world of Islam.

3282, 3308 BULGARIA (Plovdiv / Stara Zagora) - Picking-up of roses in Rose Valley

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Posted on 04.12.2019, 27.12.2019
Located just south of the Balkan Mountains, between them and the eastern part of the lower Sredna Gora chain to the south, the Rose Valley consists of two river valleys, those of the Stryama to the west and the Tundzha to the east. The valley is famous for its rose-growing industry which have been cultivated there for centuries, and which produces close to half (1.7 tonnes) of the world's rose oil. The centre of the rose oil industry is Kazanlak, while other towns of importance include Karlovo, Sopot, Kalofer and Pavel banya.

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Roses need moisture and warmth and this is why almost all fields of rose oil are located there, where the winters are short and mild and the springs long and hot. Each year, festivals are held celebrating roses and rose oil. The picking season lasts from May to June. The gathering process, traditionally a woman's task, requires great dexterity and patience. For the production of 1 kg rose-water is used 1 kg of rose blossom, for the production of 1 kg rose-oil is used approximately 3500 kg of rose-blossom. To form a rose bush and start picking are required three years after planting it.

1167 BULGARIA (Blagoevgrad) - A woman from Gotse Delchev with traditional headdress

I wrote here a little about the bulgarian traditional clothes, and about the main bulgarian ethnographic regions, so I don't insist for now. The woman in the postcard is from Gotse Delchev, in the south-west of the country. Prior to the 20th century, for weddings the hair was arranged in complex styles formed with multiple plaits; in the north and southwest, brides wore a specific headband made of decorative metal chains forming a crown. Married women covered their heads with scarves of colored silk or cotton (which could be square, triangular or rectangular, small or large), sometimes worn over a small hat. Bridal headdresses usually had a large square headscarf or scarf (mesal) 2m to 3m long and decorated with embroidery and long fringes on both ends. The headscarf was worn over cylinder or cone shape low hats. It were folded in the middle and placed on head, or could be worn over a pad, with the ends hanging loose at back. The style of jewelry worn with Bulgarian ethnic dress was strongly influenced by Ottoman fashions but with certain ancient elements, such as the over-the-ear pendants. During the period of national revival, workshops in the prosperous towns made earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings of silver filigree or cast copper or silver, often decorated with enamel.

0708 BULGARIA - Kukeri

Some customs are so deeply rooted in the traditions of the peoples, that they survive them and transmit to their descendants, even if their beliefs and their way of life were changed radically. One of these is kukeri, a pagan ritual dating back to the ancient Thracians and worshiped to Dionysos (the Thracian and Greek god associated with wine, fertility, and rebirth), which aims to scaring evil spirits, as well as to provide a good harvest, health, and happiness to the village during the coming year. For this, around New Year and before Lent, costumed men visit the peoples' houses at night (so that "the sun would not catch them on the road"), and after that they gather at the village square to dance wildly and amuse the people. Closely related traditions are found throughout the Balkans and Greece (in Greek-speaking Thrace - kalogeros / cuci, in former Yugoslavia - didi / didici, in Pontic Anatolia - momogeros, in Romania - capra / turca / brezaia).

0394 BULGARIA - Women in the Rhodopes in traditional clothes

The Rhodope Mountains, located in southern Bulgaria (the most part) and in Greece, is the oldest landmass on the Balkan peninsula and have abundant water reserves, with a dense network of mountain springs and rivers. They were inhabited from the Prehistoric age, but the first known people that lived there were the Thracians, the area being one of the cradles of European civilisation. During the Middle Ages, the Rhodopes were part of the Bulgarian and Byzantine Empires, often changing hands between the two countries, and at the end of the 14th century they were conquered by Ottoman Empire, which had possessed them for five centuries. As a result, the Rhodopes has been a place of ethnic and religious diversity for hundreds of years. Apart from the Eastern Orthodox Bulgarians and Greeks, the mountains are also home to a number of Muslim communities, including the Muslim Bulgarians (Pomaks) and a large concentration of Bulgarian Turks.