BULGARIAN VILLAGE LIFE

Life in the Bulgarian countryside is unhurried, down-to-earth and somewhat removed from the goings-on in rest of the world. Major international economic and political events seem to go by largely unnoticed, and have little effect on the day to day activities in many communities of rural Bulgaria.

Most Bulgarian towns and villages are generally unassuming, and their inhabitants are not the well-off landowner type, as is sometimes the case in rural areas of Western Europe. Modest existences and meager incomes foster a high degree of self-sufficiency, and make "relying on what the land can provide" a necessity, rather than an alterative, for many locals.
In contrast, country folk by and large, tend to enjoy healthier and happier lifestyles, and have a stronger sense of community, than their counterparts in the cities. They lead physically active lives fuelled by fresh, wholesome and organically grown food, and seem to have more genuine relations with their friends and neighbors (life in urban areas surrounded by large numbers of people, is often an unfriendly and lonely one).

As a direct result, crime for example, is relatively low in rural areas of Bulgaria, to the extent that most villages do not have a local bobby, let alone a police station, leaving the town mayor and an informal system of "neighborhood watch" to deal with minor problems. (In fact, despite what is reported by sensationalist western newspapers, Bulgaria as a whole ranks well bellow the UK or Spain, in this respect http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_acq-crime-aquited ).

TYPES OF VILLAGES

Some towns and villages, especially those in more desirable locations are considered to be "vilni zoni" (villa zones). These communities will have a large proportion of weekend-homes, that are generally used by wealthier Bulgarians from urban areas, as inland retreats during the summer months and holidays. Often situated in remote and picturesque settings (frequently alpine), they might be of historical, ethnographic or architectural significance, with a predominance of the medieval looking, traditional Balkan stone and timber houses; or close to leisure spots such as lakes, balneology/spa centers, hunting and fishing areas or ski resorts, where new villas, that sometimes are relatively modern in appearance, tend to prevail.
Real estate in villa zones, is highly sought after by both Bulgarians and foreigners, making it relatively expensive in comparison with other types of property for sale in the Bulgarian countryside.

In other Bulgarian towns and villages the idea of outsiders purchasing properties for "recreational purposes" was totally unheard of up until a few years ago. We are referring here to many of the farming communities of the Yambol and Veliko Turnovo regions, where most locals continue to go about their daily business, irrespective of the presence holiday makers or resident expats.
In some cases, they can display a certain degree of disrepair or untidiness, in the form of overgrown parks, aging buildings and pot-holed roads, and practically all of them will have features such as old Russian tractors and agricultural machinery parked outside people’s homes, farm animals wandering the streets, compost and manure heaps, and so on.

Additionally, as a result of collectivization policies carried out the during the communist period, some of the larger towns also have the misfortune to exhibit certain forms of "soviet architecture", such as the grey and sober concrete buildings, known as "combinats" (administrative buildings), that seem to stick out like sore thumbs, amid the traditional Bulgarian rural homes.
Nevertheless, these simple communities have become very popular among many western Europeans moving to Bulgaria, or searching for low-cost holiday property in the Bulgarian countryside, and in recent years most rural properties sold to foreigners in the interior of Bulgaria are in working farming communities.

VILLAGE LAYOUT

All villages have a central square, that hosts most of the local social and political events, and it is the chosen location for the town hall, post office, bar and shops (this formula seems to repeat itself throughout rural Eastern Europe); larger towns will also have a clinic, chemist, church, theatre, and a petrol station on the outskirts.

The town hall is the administrative centre of the community, and the realm of the local mayor, he or she represents the village, deals with its day to day running, and is empowered to resolves minor disputes among neighbors, impose fines, etc. (The mayor is often one of the first locals to "pop-round", and welcome foreign guests to the township).
The post office, apart from issuing stamps, also acts as the local bank and is the place where the retired collect their pensions from, utility bills are paid, the "vinetka" (road tax sticker) can be obtained, or news papers and periodicals (Bulgarian or foreign) are subscribed to. www.bgpost.bg
The role of the bar needs little clarification, for many it is the social epicenter of the village, and throughout the day it will be visited by different segments of the community. In the mornings by the "early birds" or groups of ladies enjoying a cup of coffee and a chat ….and in the evenings by the young and more self indulgent. Alternatively, some choose to spend most of their day in the village "kruchma", listening to "chalga" (contemporary folk music), reading the papers, watching the television or playing cards.

The local shop will supply basic necessities like bread, yoghurt, cheese, coffee, wine, beer, cigarettes, canned and frozen produce, and household products, but little more; and the same applies to the hardware store that will generally sell a limited number of essential items and utensils needed for domestic use, or the daily activities of the local farmers.
In smaller the villages and hamlets it is not uncommon to find that one business assumes the roles of both grocery shop and DIY outlet, as well as often been the local watering hole.
Periodic visits to larger towns and provincial capitals (with their markets and quaint shopping malls, foreign and domestic supermarket chains, builders merchants, furniture shops, electrical goods stores, etc, etc.) allow residents and visitors to stock up with pretty much anything you can get in other parts of Europe.

From the central square, the cobbled streets irradiate outwards until they reach the fields. Along them you will find many of the traditional red-brick houses that typify the towns and villages of south-eastern Europe.
Each household will have it’s own flower garden, vegetable patch, grape vines, fruit trees, and a few animals; additionally all families will have the rights over a few acres of arable land outside the village. A clear indication that these are, to a great extent, self-supporting communities.

SELF-SUFICIENT HOUSEHOLDS

Most locals will own a few goats or sheep, to supply the house with yogurt and cheese; those with cows will often sell the surplus milk to regional dairy businesses or cooperatives (curious as it may seem fresh milk is generally not available in the village shop). Cows, sheep and goats are communally herded by the village shepherds, who for a small fee, will collect them from peoples yards and return them at the end of the day.
Pigs are fattened up throughout the year with cereals, root crops, kitchen scraps, the whey from the production of cheese, etc; and are dispatched in the winter months, providing an incredible amount of hormone-free meat for the freezer, as well as lukanka (dried sausage), and lard.
Chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys provide eggs and the occasional Sunday roast, and frequently are allowed to freely roam the villages.

During the summer months, the locals will grow a variety of garden crops, which are consumed immediately after picking or stored (frozen, and preserved, dried or clamped in the traditional way) for use during the winter. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, chilies, potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, aubergines, courgettes, beetroot, radishes, cabbage, cauliflower, pumpkins, marrows, peas, beans, garlic and a variety of herbs, as well as melons, watermelons, strawberries and other soft fruits are grown in back gardens throughout rural Bulgaria. Most of this produce, as a result of it been organically cultivated, has an intense aroma and flavor, the likes of which is hard to find in western supermarkets these days.
The grapes, that seem to grow outside practically all rural homes in south-eastern Europe, together with the harvest from the vineyards on the outskirts of the villages, will inevitably be used to make wine and rakia (Bulgarian brandy). Beer production on the other hand, despite the vast amounts of barley harvested from the surrounding fields, is left to the breweries; and cider-making is something the recently arrived foreign expats do with apples. The fruit from plum, peach, apricot, cherry, and pear trees is eaten fresh, dried, preserved in jars, used to make jam, or turned into rakia :).

Beekeeping is a common activity, with many gardens having a couple of hives in a quiet corner; the honey produced is stored, sold or given away, and used for anything from sweetening food and drinks to brewing wine or medicinal purposes.

The fields are a main source of revenue for many town halls and some private individuals, and they are often rented out to large agricultural concerns for the cultivation of cash crops, such as sunflower, coriander or rapeseed. In other cases a type of cooperative system (a legacy of the former regime) still seems to function; and when crops are harvested, by the "municipal" combine, the owners of different sections of field, depending on their size, receive a proportional amount of the produce. It may then be sold on, or processed by local mills, and set a side for personal use. Cereals and corn will be turned into flour and bran, sunflower seed into cooking oil, and so on.

The surrounding woodlands supply timber for building, and firewood for the winter months, as well as wild fruits, mushrooms, herbal remedies, and hunting. Every village also seems to have a reservoir/fish farm, generally stoked with carp, which is considered a local delicacy.

TRADITIONAL AND SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO FARMING

Fertile soils, economies of scale, cooperation among the members of the community, and systems left in place by the former regime, means that not only do they adequately supply their own needs, surplus stock is often sold in local markets providing extra income, or is bartered with for other goods or services. (It is not uncommon to repay helpful neighbors with produce from the garden, lukanka, or homemade wine and rakia).

Their approach to farming is based on a deep understanding of, and a more symbiotic relationship with, the land. Most small scale farmers in eastern Europe, favour traditional breeds of live-stock and the indigenous strains of seed, and do not necessarily rely on chemicals or sophisticated machinery; not because they consider it be an "eco-friendly" method of food production, but because it is as a logical and cost effective way of doing things.
Farm animals, are given relative freedom of movement, and are fed on the fodder, cereals, and root crops that grow in the local fields, as they are readily available and cheaper than buying hormone-rich cattle pellets; while crop yields, on the other hand, are maintained high by making use of an ample supply of manure and compost, and combining it with crop rotation and other traditional agricultural practices, which is far more sensible than purchasing industrial pesticides and fertilizers. As a result organic, free-range and non-GM are merely a by-product.

Horse and carts significantly outnumber tractors in most villages, and ploughing, harvesting or haymaking can still be seen carried out in the Bulgarian countryside, without the aid of mechanization. Soviet tractors and more modern agricultural machinery obviously will still be employed, especially on the larger farms, but they co-exist with the scythes and sickles of the numerous small holdings.

RURAL SOCIETY

Rural society also remains traditionally oriented, and there is a clear division between the roles that men and women play in the community. Despite the egalitarianism promoted by the former communist regime, 500 years of Ottoman occupation have left their mark, and the domestic duties are nearly always assumed by the women, while men do what are perceived to be, the more physically demanding jobs outdoors.

The household is traditionally considered to be the woman’s domain, and she generally makes the decisions that affect it’s running. Women will gather in each others homes, and share communal jobs while they discuss family and village life. The presence of men in the house, during these occasions is normally tolerated, but not necessarily encouraged.
In their spare time, when they have it, they will sow and knit traditional garments, tend to their flower gardens, decorate their homes, as well as take part in social activities such as plays or folkloric shows at the local theatre, and organized outings.
In the warm summer evenings, once the daily chores are over, the older women of the village can often be seen sitting outside their homes proudly "showing-off" their grandchildren (like everywhere else in the world, Bulgarian children are also sent to grandma’s during school holidays).

Men on the other hand, have a tendency, to congregate in the work place, at the local bar or petrol station, where they discuss Bulgarian politics, crop prices, football or the “eccentricities” of their new foreign neighbors. Hunting and fishing, as well as brewing and consuming generous quantities of wine and rakia are popular pastimes among the men folk of rural BG.

CELEBRATIONS

Despite the fact that most people that live in the Bulgarian countryside, are to a certain extent Germanic in character, especially when it comes to work (the passing of the seasons and requirements of crops and animals are unforgiving), they do however, share the same "warm-blood" as other southern Europeans, and when it comes to unwinding, they know how to go about it. After the summer harvests, or during the "klane" (killing of the pig) around Christmas, and on birthdays, anniversaries or national holidays, families and friends will get together and celebrate.

Music, singing, and dancing the "Horo" to the sound of drums and pipes, are an undeniable expression of their identity, and a corner stone of the local culture www.tundja-folk.com. Pagan rituals dating back centuries, like those performed by the "kukeri" http://en.wkipedia.org/wiki/Kukeri (which involve bizarre costumes, bell ringing and the reenactment of ancestral rural rites), are intended to ward off bad spirits in order to ensure a copious harvest, and are the highlight of many village fairs. Additionally, some traditions with religious connotations, the former regime tried to do a way with, are also recently been revived. Throughout the year some towns and villages, hold pilgrimages to near by holy sites, where the locals and their animals are blessed by an eastern orthodox priest; these gatherings more often than not, become another excuse to have a party.

Many villagers have led relatively simple and somewhat isolated existences for most of their lives, and the fact that their communities have started to attract people from abroad, is an interesting novelty, and something most did not expect.
In consequence, it is safe to say that, they do not (for now) suffer from what could be described as "expat-fatigue-syndrome". A common condition in parts of the world with a, time honored and heavy, foreign resident and holidaymaker presence.

THE NEW ARRIVALS

The locals are generally very inquisitive about our ways and are more than willing to help integrate the new comers; to be offered gifts from their gardens or be invited into their homes and served with overwhelming amounts of food and homemade wine or rakia (which can be reciprocated with chocolates, sweets, or foreign wines and spirits), is not uncommon. Often they will have a family member living and working somewhere in western Europe, and despite the language barrier the topic of football seems to start many a conversation.
To many of the locals, the presence (and antics) of the resident expats seems to provide a welcome, and often amusing, distraction from the routine of their daily chores; and the annual visit of the foreign holidaymakers is in many cases eagerly awaited. To the extent that having "gosti ot chusbina" (foreign guests) in the village, is a bit of a status thing and something to boast about.

The recent influx of foreigners, that are moving to rural Bulgaria, or bought holiday homes in the Bulgarian countryside, has also resulted in extra trade for local businesses, as well as jobs for craft men, builders, gardeners, etc; providing a much needed injection of capital into the local economy.
In addition to this, it must be said that domestic demand for houses in farming communities is practically non-existent; as a result foreigners purchasing properties in rural regions of the country, are not competing with young Bulgarians for homes, and in the process pushing real estate prices beyond their means (the younger generations have tendency to gravitate toward the relative comfort of the urban areas); moreover, for many elderly people the funds raised from the sale of their village house, sometimes the only asset the own, allows them to join their families in the larger towns and cities (which to many is preferable to spending their old age alone in the village), without the worry of having to rely only on the meager state pensions to support themselves.