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Festivals, carnivals and celebrations are an essential part of the Bulgarian folklore traditions and folk calendar. They represent a mixture between old pаgan traditions, Christian and other religious elements. The Bulgarian folklore culture is by all means a living phenomenon that is constantly growing and evolving in the mind, psyche and practices of the current generation. It is passed from one generation to another and is at the core of the cultural sustainability of this small Balkan nation.
Bulgarian history goes back to the establishment of the state in the year 681 when two tribes – a sedimentary slovonic tribe with tall blue-eyed and blonde people engaged mainly with agriculture, the South Slavs, and a horse-riding semi-nomadic darker skinned black-eyed warrior tribe who arrived from the Eurasian steppe, the Bulgars, established a union on the Balkan Peninsula. They created a pact of peace and mutual support. This combination of Slavic and Bulgar blood continues to run in the veins of all Bulgarian families nowadays. It helped the nation survive two centuries of Byzantine (1018–1185) and five centuries of Ottoman rule (1396–1878).
In 870 Bulgaria adopted Chistianity and established an independent national church headed by an archbishop. This new faith was adopted alongside the already existing numerous paganistic beliefs and rituals going back to the Tracians, the first people to leave their mark on the Balkan Peninsula. The paganistic tradition extended throughout the centuries of the Persian sway, Celts and Romans and was also present in the beliefs of the original Slavs and Bulgars (Topalov & Nikolaeva, 2006). For example, the Bulgars believed in the legend that their ancestor was Avitohol – a man raised by a deer who lived for 300 years. Avitohol was also the one who directed the tribe to take the road towards the Balkans (BNT, 2019). Many of the pagan traditions are still alive today on their own or intertwined with the beliefs and rituals of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. With most pagan religions being polytheistic (Cameron, 2011), characteristic about Bulgarian paganism is similarly in its tendency to believe and worship many gods. Another essential feature is the veneration of nature (Harvey, 2010) and the celebration of its seasons that particularly impact food production.
Folk customs, dances, songs, stories, proverbs and other folkloric traditions occupy a prominent place in people’s communal and private lives. Many of them originate from paganistic times and are directly related to growing and consuming food. They also introduce cultural sustainability and stability in the social reality, keep the Bulgarian nation united and maintain its culture. Festive gatherings, folklore festivals, carnivals and celebrations contribute to traditional sustainability and are most strongly safeguarded within the family and social environment. These traditions are part of the intangible cultural heritage preserved and transmitted by our ansestors passed onto us to keep, maintain and enrich with new wisdom. The ancient, old and current Bulgarians have followed and continue to adhere to the same calendar of festivities, rituals and events. They do this not only because of their own spirituality and values but also because this folk culture is in harmony with the cycles of the natural world. As time goes by, these traditions are being interpreted and re-interpreted by each generation keeping them alive. They also hold the key to a more sustainable society and represent a treasure house of human experience in interacting with the forces of nature.
In this article, we particularly explore the pagan folk traditions linked to food consumption arguing that they are closely related with the present sustainability priorities. Furthermore, these folklore celebrations help maintain social cohesion and contribute towards spiritual and physical well-being. The analysis is based on secondary sources as well as on the personal knowledge and obserations of the authors who are Bulgarian. We first provide a brief overview of traditional folk culture in contemporary Bulgaria and then analyse specifically food-related traditions and their contribution towards sustainability. The analysis covers traditions which have originated during and continue to be connected to pagan culture although more recent religious beliefs have given them an added meaning. Representing social and religious inclusion, they also promote sustainability related to food and broader social values.