^a: The 2011 census figure was 5,664,624.[46] The question on ethnicity was voluntary and 10% of the population did not declare any ethnicity,[47] thus the figure is considered an underestimation. Ethnic Bulgarians are estimated at around 6 million, 85% of the population.[48] ^b: Estimates[49][50] of the number ofPomaks whom most scholars categorize as Bulgarians[51][52] ^c: According to the 2002 census there were 1,417 Bulgarians in North Macedonia.[53] Between 2003 and 2017, according to the data provided by Bulgarian authorities some 87,483[54]-200,000[55] permanent residents of North Macedonia declared Bulgarian origin in their applications for Bulgarian citizenship, of which 67,355 requests were granted. A minor part of them are among the total of 2,934 North Macedonia-born residents, who are residing in Bulgaria by 2016.[56] ^d: by citizenship excluding dual citizens ^e: by single ethnic group per person ^f: by foreign-born ^h: by heritage ^n: by legal nationality ^m: by nationality, naturalisation and descendant background
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from theBulgars. Their name is not completely understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD,[60] but it is possibly derived from theProto-Turkic word*bulģha ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and its derivative*bulgak ("revolt", "disorder").[61] Alternative etymologies include derivation from a compound of Proto-Turkic (Oghuric)*bel ("five") and*gur ("arrow" in the sense of "tribe"), a proposed division within theUtigurs orOnogurs ("ten tribes").[62]
According to art. 25(1) ofConstitution of Bulgaria, a Bulgarian citizen shall be anyone born to at least one parent holding aBulgarian citizenship, or born on the territory of theRepublic of Bulgaria, should they not be entitled to any other citizenship by virtue of origin. Bulgarian citizenship shall further be acquirable through naturalization.[63] About 85% of Bulgaria's population identified themselves as ethnic Bulgarians in 2021 Bulgarian census, the rest being mostlyTurks (8%) andRoma (4%).[64]
Modern-day Bulgarians descend from peoples of vastly different origins and numbers, and are thus the result of a "melting pot" effect.The main ethnic elements which blended to produce the modern Bulgarian ethnicity are:
Thracians – a native ancientBalkanIndo-European people who left a cultural and genetic legacy.[65][66][67] Approximately 55% of Bulgarian autosomal genetic legacy is of Paleo-Balkan and Mediterranean origin and can be attributed to Thracian and other indigenousBalkan populations predating Slavs andBulgars;[68][69][70]
Early Slavs – an Indo-European group of tribes that migrated fromEastern Europe into the Balkans in the 6th–7th century CE and imposed their language and culture on the local Thracian, Roman and Greek communities. Approximately 40% of Bulgarian autosomal make-up comes from a northeastern European population that admixed with the native population in the period between 400 and 1000 CE;[68][71]
Bulgars – a semi-nomadicTurkic tribal federation, possibly fromCentral Asia, which settled in the northeast of the Balkans in the 7th century CE, federated with the local Slavic and Slavicized population, organised early-medieval Bulgarian statehood and bequeathed theirethnonym to the modern Bulgarian ethnicity, while eventually assimilating into the Slavic population.[72][73] Approximately 2.3% of Bulgarian genes originate in Central Asia, corresponding to Asian tribes such as the Bulgars,Avars,Cumans and other Turkic tribes, which settled on the Balkans during the Middle ages, with admixture peaking in the 9th century CE;[74]
The indigenous Thracians left a cultural and genetic legacy.[75][full citation needed][65] Other pre-Slavic Indo-European peoples, includingDacians (if distinct from Thracians),Celts,Goths,Romans,ancient Greeks,Sarmatians,Paeonians andIllyrians also settled in what later became the Bulgarian lands. TheThracian language was still spoken in the 6th century, probably becoming extinct afterwards,[76][full citation needed][77][78][full citation needed] In a later period the Bulgarians replaced long-established Greek/Latin toponyms with Thracian ones, which might suggest that Thracian had not been completely obliterated then.[79] Some pre-Slavic linguistic and cultural traces might have been preserved among modern Bulgarians (and Macedonians).[80][81]Scythia Minor andMoesia Inferior appear to have beenRomanized,[82] although the region became a focus of barbarian re-settlements (various Goths andHuns) during the 4th and early 5th centuries AD,[83] before a further "Romanization" episode during the early 6th century.[84] According to archeological evidence from the late periods of Roman rule, the Romans did not decrease the number of Thracians significantly in major cities. By the 4th century the major city ofSerdica had predominantly Thracian populace based on epigraphic evidence, which shows prevailing Latino-Thracian given names, but thereafter the names were completely replaced by Christian ones.[85][full citation needed]
The early Slavs emerged from their original homeland in the early 6th century, and spread to most of the easternCentral Europe,Eastern Europe and theBalkans, thus forming three main branches: theWest Slavs in eastern Central Europe, theEast Slavs in Eastern Europe, and theSouth Slavs inSoutheastern Europe (Balkans). The latter gradually inflicted total linguistic replacement of Thracian, if the Thracians had not already been Romanized or Hellenized.[86] Most scholars accept that they began large-scale settling of the Balkans in the 580s based on the statement of the 6th century historianMenander speaking of 100,000 Slavs inThrace and consecutive attacks of Greece in 582.[87] They continued coming to the Balkans in many waves, but also leaving, most notablyJustinian II (685–695) settled as many as 30,000 Slavs from Thrace inAsia Minor. TheByzantines grouped the numerous Slavic tribes into two groups: theSclaveni andAntes.[88] Some Bulgarian scholars suggest that the Antes became one of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians.[88]
The Bulgars are first mentioned in the 4th century in the vicinity of theNorth Caucasiansteppe. Scholars often suggest that the ultimate origins of the Bulgar is Turkic and can be traced to theCentral Asiannomadicconfederations,[89][90][91][92][verification needed] specifically as part of loosely related Oghuric tribes which spanned from the Pontic steppe to central Asia.[93] However, any direct connection between the Bulgars and postulated Asian counterparts rest on little more than speculative and "contorted etymologies".[94] Some Bulgarian historians question the identification of the Bulgars as a Turkic tribe and suggest anIranian origin.[95][96] Other Bulgarian scholars actively oppose the "Iranian hypothesis".[97][98] According toRaymond Detrez, the Iranian theory is rooted in the periods ofanti-Turkish sentiment in Bulgaria and is ideologically motivated.[99] Since 1989, anti-Turkish rhetoric is now reflected in the theories that challenge the thesis of the Bulgars' Turkic origin. Alongside the Iranian or Aryan theory, there appeared arguments favoring an autochthonous origin.[100]
In the 670s, some Bulgar tribes, the Danube Bulgars led byAsparuh and the Bulgars, led byKuber, crossed the Danube river and settled in the Balkans with a single migration wave, the former of whichMichael the Syrian described as numbering 10,000.[101][73] The Bulgars are often not thought to have been numerous, becoming a ruling elite in the areas they controlled.[73][102] However, according toSteven Runciman a tribe that was able to defeat an Emperor-lead Byzantine army, must have been of considerable dimensions.[103][full citation needed] Asparuh's Bulgars made a tribal union with theSeverians and the "Seven clans", who were re-settled to protect the flanks of the Bulgar settlements inScythia Minor, as the capitalPliska was built on the site of a former Slavic settlement.
During the Early Byzantine Era, the Roman provincials in Scythia Minor and Moesia Secunda were already engaged in economic and social exchange with the 'barbarians' north of theDanube. This might have facilitated their eventual Slavonization,[104] although the majority of the population appears to have been withdrawn to the hinterland ofConstantinople or Asia Minor prior to any permanent Slavic and Bulgar settlement south of the Danube.[105][full citation needed] The major port towns in Pontic Bulgaria remained Byzantine Greek in their outlook. The large scale population transfers and territorial expansions during the 8th and 9th century, additionally increased the number of the Slavs and Byzantine Christians within the state, making the Bulgars quite obviously a minority.[106] The establishment of a new state molded the various Slav, Bulgar and earlier or later populations into the "Bulgarian people" of theFirst Bulgarian Empire[73][107][108] speaking aSouth Slavic language.[109] In different periods to theethnogenesis of the local population contributed also different Indo-European and Turkic people, who settled or lived on the Balkans.
The Bulgarians are usually regarded as part of theSlavic ethnolinguistic group.[110][111][112][113] However the controversial issue of their ethnogenesis is a popular subject in the works of thenationalist scientists. The fierce debates started in the 19th century and the questionable proportions of the presumed Thracian, Bulgar, and Slavic ancestry, have depended on thegeopolitical situation of the country and on ideological and political predilections.[114][115] These supposed proportions have been changed several times during the 20th century, emphasizing usually the Slavic part of Bulgarian ancestry, related to the traditionally strongRussophilia in the country.[116][117] However, during the 1970sThracology was especially supported by thecommunist authority, as an attempt to underline the indigenous influence into the Bulgarian ethnogenesis. After thefall of Communism, the spiritualized image of the Thracians began to fade. Following the cooling ofrelations with Russia and thecountry's EU accession, the opinion on significant Bulgar genetic impact was launched among nationalist circles that lately have downplayed the country's Slavic ancestry.[118][119] From a limited group of Turkic equestrian nomads, the Danubian Bulgars were reinterpreted by them as a numerousAryan people, with a unique culture.[120][121][publisher missing]
Historical contribution of donor source groups in European peoples according to Hellenthal et al., (2014). Polish is selected to represent Slavic-speaking donor groups from the Middle Ages that are estimated to make up 97% of the ancestry in Belarusians, 80% in Russians, 55% in Bulgarians, 54% in Hungarians, 48% in Romanians, 46% in Chuvash and 30% in Greeks.[122]
Officers from Bulgarianhussar regiment in Russia (1776–1783)
Although contemporary Bulgaria is a young nation state, its traces go back to The First Bulgarian Empire which was founded in 681 as a Slav-Bulgar state.[126] After the adoption ofOrthodox Christianity in 864 it became one of the cultural centres of Slavic Europe. Its leading cultural position was consolidated with the invention of theCyrillic script in its capitalPreslav at the eve of the 10th century.[127] The development ofOld Church Slavonic literacy in the country during the 10th century, had the effect of preventing the assimilation of theSouth Slavs into neighbouring cultures. Also, it stimulated the development of a Bulgarian national identity, that was far from modern nationalism but it helped Bulgaria to survive as a distinct entity through the centuries.[126][128][129] A symbiosis was carried out between the numerically weak Bulgars and the numerous Slavic tribes in that broad area from the Danube to the north, to theAegean Sea to the south, and from theAdriatic Sea to the west, to theBlack Sea to the east, who accepted the commondemonym "Bulgarians".[130]
In 1018, Bulgaria lost its independence and remained a Byzantine subject until 1185, when theSecond Bulgarian Empire was created.[131] Nevertheless, at the end of the 14th century, theOttomans conquered the whole of Bulgaria.[132] Under the Ottoman system, Christians were considered an inferior class of people. Thus, Bulgarians, like other Christians, were subjected to heavy taxes and a small portion of the Bulgarian populace experienced partial or complete Islamisation.[133] Orthodox Christians were included in a specific ethno-religious community calledRum Millet. To the common people, belonging to this Orthodox commonwealth became more important than their ethnic origins.[134] This community became both, basic form of social organization and source of identity for all the ethnic groups inside it.[135] In this way, ethnonyms were rarely used and between the 15th and 19th centuries, most of the local people gradually began to identify themselves simply asChristians.[136][137] However, the public-spirited clergy in some isolated monasteries still kept the distinct Bulgarian identity alive,[138] and this helped it to survive predominantly in rural, remote areas.[139] Despite the process of ethno-religious fusion among the Orthodox Christians, strong nationalist sentiments persisted into theCatholic community in the northwestern part of the country.[140] At that time, a process of partial Hellenization occurred among the intelligentsia and the urban population, as a result of the higher status of the Greek culture and theGreek Orthodox Church among the Balkan Christians. During the second half of the 18th century, theEnlightenment inWestern Europe provided influence for the initiation of theNational awakening of Bulgaria in 1762.[141]
Some Bulgarians supported the Russian Army when they crossed the Danube in the middle of the 18th century. Russia worked to convince them to settle in areas recently conquered by it, especially inBessarabia. As a consequence, many Bulgarian refugees settled there, and later they formed two military regiments, as part of the Russian military colonization of the area in 1759–1763.[142]
During theRusso-Turkish Wars of 1806–1812 and1828–1829 Bulgarian emigrants formed theBulgarian Countrymen's Army and joined theRussian Army, hoping Russia would bring Bulgarian liberation, but its imperial interests were focused then onGreece andWallachia.[143] Therise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire led to a struggle for cultural and religious autonomy of the Bulgarian people. The Bulgarians wanted to have their own schools and liturgy in Bulgarian, and they needed an independent ecclesiastical organisation. Discontent with the supremacy of the Greek Orthodox clergy, the struggle started to flare up in several Bulgarian dioceses in the 1820s.
It was not until the 1850s when the Bulgarians initiated a purposeful struggle against thePatriarchate of Constantinople. The struggle between the Bulgarians and the GreekPhanariotes intensified throughout the 1860s. In 1861 theVatican and the Ottoman government recognized a separateBulgarian Uniat Church. As the Greek clerics were ousted from most Bulgarian bishoprics at the end of the decade, significant areas had been seceded from the Patriarchate's control. This movement restored the distinct Bulgarian national consciousness among the common people and led to the recognition of theBulgarian millet in 1870 by the Ottomans. As result, two armed struggle movements started to develop as late as the beginning of the 1870s: theInternal Revolutionary Organisation and theBulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee. Their armed struggle reached its peak with theApril Uprising which broke out in 1876. It resulted in theRusso-Turkish War (1877–1878), and led to thefoundation of the third Bulgarian state after theTreaty of San Stefano. The issue ofBulgarian nationalism gained greater significance, following theCongress of Berlin which took back the Macedonia andAdrianople regions, returning them under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Also an autonomous Ottoman province, calledEastern Rumelia was created inNorthern Thrace. As a consequence, the Bulgarian national movement proclaimed as its aim the inclusion of most ofMacedonia,Thrace andMoesia under Greater Bulgaria.
In the early 20th century the control over Macedonia became a key point of contention between Bulgaria, Greece, andSerbia, who fought the First Balkan War of(1912–1913) and the Second Balkan War of(1913). The area was further fought over during the World War I(1915–1918) and the World War II(1941–1944).
Map of theBulgarian diaspora in the world (includes people with Bulgarian ancestry or citizenship).
Bulgaria
+ 100,000
+ 10,000
+ 1,000
Most Bulgarians live inBulgaria, where they number around 6 million,[150][151] constituting 85% of the population. Bulgarian minorities exist inSerbia,Romania (Banat Bulgarians),Hungary,Albania, as well as inUkraine andMoldova (seeBessarabian Bulgarians). Many Bulgarians also live in the diaspora, which is formed by representatives and descendants of the old (before 1989) and new (after 1989) emigration. The old emigration was made up of some 2,470,000[citation needed] economic and several tens of thousands of political emigrants, and was directed for the most part to the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Germany. The new emigration is estimated at some 970,000 people and can be divided into two major subcategories: permanent emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, directed mostly to theU.S.,Canada, Austria, andGermany and labour emigration at the end of the 1990s, directed for the most part toGreece, Italy, the UK and Spain. Migrations to the West have been quite steady even in the late 1990s and early 21st century, as people continue moving to countries like the US, Canada and Australia. Most Bulgarians living in Canada can be found in Toronto, Ontario, and the provinces with the most Bulgarians in Canada areOntario andQuebec. According to the 2001 census there were 1,124,240 Bulgarian citizens in the city ofSofia,[151] 302,858 inPlovdiv, 300,000 inVarna and about 200,000 inBurgas. The total number of Bulgarians stood at over 9 million.[152][153]
Bulgarian demonstrates some linguistic developments that set it apart from other Slavic languages shared withRomanian,Albanian andGreek (seeBalkan language area). Bulgarian was influenced lexically by medieval and modern Greek, andTurkish.Medieval Bulgarian influenced the other South Slavic languages and Romanian. With Bulgarian and Russian there was a mutual influence in both directions. Both languages were a lingua franca of each other during the Middle Ages. Recently, Bulgarian has borrowed many words from German, French and English.
The Bulgarian language is spoken by the majority of theBulgarian diaspora, but less so by the descendants of earlier emigrants to the U.S., Canada,Argentina andBrazil.
Bulgarian linguists consider the officializedMacedonian language (since 1944) to be a local codified variation of Bulgarian, just as most ethnographers and linguists until the early 20th century considered the local Slavic speech in the Macedonian region as Bulgarian dialects.[citation needed] The president of Bulgaria,Zhelyu Zhelev, declined to recognize Macedonian as a separate language when North Macedonia became a new independent state. The Bulgarian language is written in theCyrillic script.
There are several different layers of Bulgarian names. The vast majority of them have either Christian (names like Lazar,Ivan, Anna, Maria, Ekaterina) orSlavic origin (Vladimir, Svetoslav, Velislava). After the Liberation in 1878, the names of historicalBulgar rulers likeAsparuh,Krum,Kubrat andTervel were resurrected. The Bulgar nameBoris has spread from Bulgaria to a number of countries in the world.
Most Bulgarian male surnames have an-ovsurname suffix (Cyrillic:-ов), a tradition used mostly by Eastern Slavic nations such asRussia,Ukraine andBelarus. This is sometimestranscribed as-off or-of (John Atanasov—John Atanasoff), but more often as-ov (e.g.Boyko Borisov). The-ov suffix is the Slavic gender-agreeing suffix, thusIvanov (Bulgarian:Иванов) literally means "Ivan's". Bulgarian middle names are patronymic and use the gender-agreeing suffix as well, thus the middle name of Nikola's son becomesNikolov, and the middle name of Ivan's daughter becomesIvanova. Since names in Bulgarian are gender-based, Bulgarian women have the-ova surname suffix (Cyrillic:-овa), for example,Maria Ivanova. The plural form of Bulgarian names ends in-ovi (Cyrillic:-ови), for example theIvanovi family (Иванови).
Other common Bulgarian male surnames have the-ev surname suffix (Cyrillic:-ев), for exampleStoev,Ganchev,Peev, and so on. The female surname in this case would have the-eva surname suffix (Cyrillic:-ева), for example:Galina Stoeva. The last name of the entire family then would have the plural form of-evi (Cyrillic:-еви), for example: theStoevi family (Стоеви).
Another typical Bulgarian surname suffix, though less common, is-ski. This surname ending also gets an–a when the bearer of the name is female (Smirnenski becomesSmirnenska). The plural form of the surname suffix-ski is still-ski, e.g. theSmirnenski family (Смирненски).
The ending–in (female-ina) also appears rarely. It used to be given to the child of an unmarried woman (for example the son ofKuna will get the surnameKunin and the son ofGana –Ganin). The surname suffix-ich can be found only occasionally, primarily among the Roman Catholic Bulgarians. The surname ending–ich does not get an additional–a if the bearer of the name is female.
Map of theBulgarian Exarchate (1870–1913). The Ottomans required a threshold of two thirds of positive votes of the Orthodox population to include a region into this jurisdiction.[157]
Most Bulgarians are at least nominally members of theBulgarian Orthodox Church founded in 870 AD (autocephalous since 927 AD). The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the independent national church of Bulgaria like the other national branches of theEastern Orthodox communion and is considered a dominating element of Bulgarian national consciousness. The church was abolished once, during the period of Ottoman rule (1396—1878), in 1873 it was revived asBulgarian Exarchate and soon after raised again to BulgarianPatriarchate. In 2021, the Orthodox Church at least nominally had a total of 4,219,270 members in Bulgaria (71.5% of the population),[158][159] down from 6,552,000 (83%) at the 2001 census. 3,980,131 of these pointed out the Bulgarian ethnic group (79% of the total Bulgarian ethnic group).[160][158] The Orthodox Bulgarian minorities inRomania, Serbia,Greece, Albania,Ukraine andMoldova nowadays hold allegiance to the respective national Orthodox churches.
Despite the position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as a unifying symbol for all Bulgarians, small groups of Bulgarians have converted to other faiths through the course of time. During Ottoman rule, a substantial number of Bulgarians converted to Islam, forming the community of thePomaks orMuslim Bulgarians.[161] In the 16th and the 17th centuries Roman Catholic missionaries converted a small number of BulgarianPaulicians in the districts ofPlovdiv andSvishtov toRoman Catholicism. Nowadays there are some 40,000 Roman Catholic Bulgarians in Bulgaria, additional 10,000 in theBanat in Romania and up to 100,000 people of Bulgarian ancestry in South America. The Roman Catholic Bulgarians of the Banat are also descendants of Paulicians who fled there at the end of the 17th century after an unsuccessful uprising against the Ottomans. Protestantism was introduced in Bulgaria by missionaries from the United States in 1857. Missionary work continued throughout the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Nowadays there are some 25,000 Protestant Bulgarians in Bulgaria.
Assen Jordanoff (left), Bulgarian American inventor considered by prominent aviation specialists the main contributor to the American knowledge of aviation, likewise theBoeing,airbag andtape recorder.[162] John Vincent Atanasoff (right), Bulgarian American inventor of theAtanasoff-Berry computer, legally the inventor of the electronic digital computer in the U.S. and considered the "father of the computer".[163][164][165]
Bulgarian peachkompot – non alcoholic clear juice obtained by cooking fruit
Famous for its rich salads required at every meal, Bulgarian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality ofdairy products and the variety oflocal wines and alcoholic beverages such asrakia,mastika andmenta. Bulgarian cuisine features also a variety of hot and cold soups, an example of a cold soup beingtarator. There are many different Bulgarian pastries as well such asbanitsa.
Most Bulgarian dishes are oven baked, steamed, or in the form of stew. Deep-frying is not very typical, but grilling—especially different kinds of meats—is very common. Pork meat is the most common meat in the Bulgarian cuisine. Oriental dishes do exist in Bulgarian cuisine with most common beingmoussaka,gyuvetch, andbaklava. A very popular ingredient in Bulgarian cuisine is the Bulgarian white brine cheese called "sirene" (сирене). It is the main ingredient in many salads, as well as in a variety of pastries. Fish and chicken are widely eaten and while beef is less common as most cattle are bred for milk production rather than meat,veal is a natural byproduct of this process and it is found in many popular recipes. Bulgaria is a net exporter of lamb and its own consumption of the meat is prevalent during its production time in spring.[166] Thebread and salt tradition, which is widespread among Balto-Slavs, is the usual welcome given to strangers and politicians.
Bulgarians may celebrateSaint Theodore's Day with horse racings. At Christmas Eve aPogača with fortunes is cooked, which are afterwards put under the pillow. AtEaster the first egg is painted red and is kept for a whole year. On theBaptism of Jesus a competition to catch the cross in the river is held and is believed the sky is "opened" and any wish will be fulfilled.
Bulgarians as well asAlbanians nod the head up and down to indicates "no" and shake to indicate "yes". They may wear themartenitsa (мартеница)—an adornment made of white and red yarn and worn on the wrist or pinned on the clothes—from 1 March until the end of the month. Alternatively, one can take off the martenitsa earlier if one sees a stork (considered a harbinger of spring). One can then tie the martenitsa to the blossoming branch of a tree. Family-members and friends in Bulgaria customarily exchange martenitsas, which they regard as symbols of health and longevity. When a stork is seen, the martenitsa should be left on a tree. The white thread represents peace and tranquility, while the red one stands for the cycles of life. Bulgarians may also refer to the holiday of 1 March asBaba Marta (Баба Марта), meaningGrandmother March. It preserves an ancient pagan tradition, possibly celebrating theold Roman new Year, beginning on 1 March, identical with RomanianMărțișor. Pagan customs found their way to the Christian holidays.
The ancient ritual ofkukeri (кукери), similar to SlovenianKurentovanje,Busójárás andHalloween, is performed by costumed men in different times of the year and after Easter. This seeks to scare away evil spirits and bring good harvest and health to the community. Goat is symbolized, that was left from the Thracian cult ofDionysian Mysteries. The ritual consists of dancing, jumping, shouting and collect gifts from the houses in an attempt to banish all evil from the village. The adornments on the costumes vary from one region to another. TheThracian Heros remains in the image ofSaint George, at whose feast the agriculture is celebrated, a lamb is traditionally eaten, accomplished with ritual bathing.Saint Tryphon's fertility and wine is attributed a Thracian origin, considered to preserve the cult toSabazius as the Kukeri.[167] This is followed in February by Pokladi, a tradition of setting massively large fire and jump over as at theKupala Night and a competition between couples to eat an egg on a thread is held. Another characteristic custom callednestinarstvo (нестинарство), orfiredancing, distinguishes theStrandzha region, as well asDog spinning. The authentic nestinarstvo with states oftrance is only preserved in the villageBalgari. This ancient custom involves dancing into fire or over live embers. Women dance into the fire with their bare feet without suffering any injury or pain.
Slavic pagan customs are preserved in Bulgarian Christian holidays. TheMiladinov brothers and foreign authors noticed that even pagan prayers are preserved quoting plenty of Slavic pagan rite songs and tales remained in Bulgarians, includingMacedonians andPomaks, mainly dedicated to the divine nymphssamovili andpeperuna for the feastssurva,Saint George's Day,Koleda, etc. with evidence of toponymy throughout the regional groups linking directly to the deitiesSvarog,Perun,Hors andVeles, while the regional group Hartsoi derive their name from god Hors.[168][169][170] Songs dedicated to the Thracian divinityOrpheus were found in Pomaks, who is said to marry the samovili. The old Bulgarian name of thePresentation of Jesus at the Temple wasGromnitsa andPerunov den dedicated to the supreme Slavic thunder god Perun. In the mix of Christian and pagan patrons of thunder, atSaint Elijah's feast dayOgnyena Maria is worshiped, the Slavic goddesses assisting Perun that took a substitutional dual position of the Christian Mother of God. The custom for rain beggingPeperuna is derived from the wife of Perun and the god of the rainDodola, this was described by a 1792 Bulgarian book as a continued worship of Perun at times of absence of rain with a ritual performed by a boy or a girl dressed like Perun.[171] Similar rain begging is calledGerman. In case of continuous lack of rain, a custom of driving out thezmey from the area is performed. In the dualistic Slavic belief the zmey may be both goodtutelary spirit and evil, in which case is considered not local and good, but evil and trying to inflict harm and drought.[172] SaintJeremiah's feast is of the snakes and the reptiles, there is a tradition of jumping over fire. At theRusalka week the girls don't go outside to prevent themselves from diseases and harm that the dead forcesRusalii can cause.[172] This remained the holiday of the samovili. The men performing the custom are also called Rusalii, they don't let anybody pass through between them, don't talk with each other except for the evening, avoid water, if someone lacks behind a member swoops the sword over the lacker's head to prevent him from evil spirits.[173] If the group encounter on their way a well, dry tree, old cemeteries, crossroads, they go round them three times. Before leaving rusalii say goodbye to their relatives as if they went to war, which is not surprising because some of them are killed. When two rusalii groups met there was a fight to the death in which the dead were buried in special "rusaliyski cemetery." Each year there are holidays in honour of wolves and mouses. A relief for the scared believers is celebrated at theBeheading of St. John the Baptist, when according to Bulgarian belief all themythical figures go back to their caves in a mythical village in the middle of nowhere Zmeykovo of the zmey king, along with therusalki, samodivi, and return atAnnunciation.[172] According to other beliefs the danger peaks at the so-called few days around the New Year Eve "Dirty Days", this time starts atKoleda, which merged withChristmas, when groups of kidskoledari visit houses, singing carols and receiving a gift at parting. It is believed that no man can go in Zmeyovo and only the magpie knows the location of this place. At many of the holidays a sexual taboo is said to be practiced to prevent conceiving a vampire or werewolf and not to work, not to go toSedenki or go out.Live-fire is set in case of epidemics.[172]Babinden for example is rooted in the mother-goddess. On the day ofSt. Vlas, the tradition of a "wooly" god Veles established itself, a god who is considered to be a protector of shepherds, and bread is given to the livestock on that day.[172] The ancient Slavic custom to marry died people occurred in Bulgarian society.[172]Survakane is performed each new year with a decorated stick by children, who hit adults on the back for health at the New Year Eve, usually in exchange of money. In theChech region there is a custom forbidding "touching the land", i.e. construction and agriculture, at the equinox on 25 March and the same custom is found in BelarusianVolhynia andPolesia.[172]
Bulgarian mythology and fairy tales are mainly about forest figures, such as the dragonzmey, the nymphssamovili (samodivi), the witchveshtitsa. They are usually harmful and devastating, but can also help the people. The samovili are said to live in beeches and sycamores the, which are therefore considered holy and not permitted burning.[172] Samovili, although believed to be masters of everything between the sky and the earth, "run away" from fraxinus, garlic, dew and walnut.[172] Walnut remained in Christianity to be used in prayers to "see" the dead in Spirits Day.[172]Dictamnus is believed to be their favourite herb, which is intoxicating. The samovili are spirits in Bulgarian beliefs are the diseases themselves and punish people, kidnap shepherds, make blind the people or drown them and are in white colored dress, they are in odd numbers, which suggest they are ones of the "dead".[172] Epic heroes asPrince Marko are believed to be descended from the samodivi. The elm is believed to scare the evil forces. Sacral trees in Bulgarian beliefs are beeches and oaks.[172] Hawthorn is believed to expel all evil forces and is applied to cure suspected vampires. The tradition forbids killing of sacred animals – deer, while it is hold a belief the samodivi runaway from horse. The alleged as "unclean" animals resembling the devil such as the goat are, however, exempted from being eaten as the holy ones. The zmey istranshuman and can turn "into" animals, plants and items, he is also "responsible" for diseases, madness and missing women.[172] The female version of the Slavic zmey isLamia andAla is another version. The girls who practicedLazaruvane and other rituals "could not" be kidnapped by the zmey. The main enemy of the Sun is the zmey, which tries to eat the Sun, which scene is preserved in church art.[172] The sun is painted one eyed as recorded by beliefs Perun stabbed one of the sun's eyes to save the world from overheating.[172]
Theborn on Saturday are thought as having supernatural powers, those born at the wolves' holidays and a number of people are alleged asvarkolaks and vampires.[172] The most spread Bulgarian view of the vampire was that of a rolling bulbous balloon of blood derived from the Slavic termpir "drink".[172]
Rusalka is believed to be a variety of the samodivi andNav, but the latter are considered little fairies.[172] The Thursdays remained feasts of Perun in Bulgarian beliefs.[172] The wind and the hot steam of the bread is believed to be the souls of the dead.[172] From Easter to Feast of the Ascension it is believed that the death are in the flowers and the animals.Mora in Bulgarian beliefs is a black hairy evil spirit with four firing eyes associated with nightmares when causing someone to scream, similarly toKikimora. Polunoshtnitsa andPoludnica are believed to be evil spirits causing death, while toLesnik,Domovnik andVodnik a dualistic nature is attributed.[172] Thanks to theVlshebnik, a man of the community, a magician and a priest, communication with the "other" world was held.[172] Torbalan is theSack Man used to scare children, along withBaba Yaga, who is a witch in her Bulgarian version.[172]
Kuma Lisa andHitar Petar are the tricky fox and villager from the fairy tales, the tricked antagonist is oftenNasreddin Hoca, whereasBay Ganyo is a ridiculed Bulgarian villager. Ivancho and Mariika are the protagonists of the jokes.
Despite eastern Ottoman influence is obvious in areas such as cuisine and music, Bulgarian folk beliefs and mythology seem to lack analogies withTurkic mythology,paganism and any non-European folk beliefs,[172] sо in pre-Christian times the ancient Bulgars were much inferior to the Slavs in the ethnogenesis and culture that resulted in modern Bulgarians. The Slavic language was officialized at the same time with Christianity, so Slavic paganism has never been a state religion of Bulgaria or more influential thanTengriism. Most of Bulgarian land lack any pagan archeology left from the Bulgars, despite early Christianization and that during most of the pagan period medieval Bulgarian borders spread significantly only in today's northern Bulgaria. Although legacy indicating ancientBulgar culture is at most virtually absent in modern Bulgarian culture, some authors claim there is a similarity between the dress and customs of theChuvashes, who descend from theVolga Bulgars, and the Bulgarian ethnographic groupKapantsi fromTargovishte Province andRazgrad Province, among whom the claim that they are direct descendants ofAsparuh's Bulgars is popular,[174][175][176] but Slavic elements are found among them.[177]
Bulgarian folk dancers in a national costume with embroidery on the penultimate row of the aprons showing the most spread Slavic cryptogramBur[178] with a cross inside the rhombus representing the sun and spirals indicating rain,[179] which is similarly represented as theRising Sun[180]decorative pattern of theFlag of Belarus. Similar carpet patterns appear on theFlag of Turkmenistan ultimately derived from ancientPersia.
Bulgarian folk costumes feature long white robes, usually with red embroidery and ornaments derived from the SlavicRachenik. The costume is considered to be mainly derived from the dress of theancient Slavs, the female dress with the overgarments joined at the shoulders that evolved fromSarafan and all the types ofsukman, saya andaprons fasten at the waist are said to be directly descended from the ancient Slavs only with negligible mutation.[175][181] The women's head-dress, which turned to be a must for the Bulgarian costume is a decoration with flowers optionally on a headband, that distinguishes all the Balto-Slavic peoples and is not found in western cultures. The male dress is of likewise origin, usuallyRiza "robe", poyas "belt", poturi "full-bottomed breeches" typical for the Slavs and often atsarvul andkalpak for shoes and jacket. Among the most similar relatives of the latter for example isUkrainian hutsul, but the kalpak is attributed to Ottoman influence. The male skirtfustanella appears on the dress only of theMacedonian Bulgarians and is of indigenous Balkan origin or influence. In some dress ofThrace the symbol of the snake as in medieval tombs is found and is considered a Thracian cultural legacy and belief.[172]
Folk songs are most often about the nymphs from Bulgarian andWest Slavic mythology (samovili) and the epic heroes (yunaks).[169] InstrumentsGadulka,Gusla,Duduk,gaidaDvoyanka are analogous to other Slavicgudok,dudka andDvodentsivka.Kaval is common in the Balkans and Turkey and is akin to ArabKawala, as well as Tapan, Goblet Drum,Zurna. The most spread dance is acircle dance calledhoro andkhorovod. Songs are generally loud. Recent eastern influences from the genre musicchalga andturbo-folk even brought a prestige for the masculine voices of females.
As for most European peoples,football became by far the most popular sport for the Bulgarians.Hristo Stoichkov was one of the best football (soccer) players in the second half of the 20th century, having played with the national team andFC Barcelona. He received a number of awards and was the joint top scorer at the1994 World Cup.Dimitar Berbatov, formerly inManchester United,Tottenham Hotspur,Bayer Leverkusen and others, the national team and two domestic clubs, is still the most popular Bulgarian football player of the 21st century.
In the beginning of the 20th century Bulgaria was famous for two of the best wrestlers in the world –Dan Kolov andNikola Petroff.Stefka Kostadinova is the best femalehigh jumper, still holding the world record from 1987, one of the oldest unbroken world records for all kind of athletics.Ivet Lalova along withIrina Privalova is currently the fastest white woman at100 metres.Kaloyan Mahlyanov has been the first European sumo wrestler to win the Emperor's Cup in Japan. Veselin Topalov won the 2005World Chess Championship. He was ranked No. 1 in the world from April 2006 to January 2007, and had the second highest Elo rating of all time (2813). He regained the world No. 1 ranking again in October 2008.
The national flag of Bulgaria is a rectangle with three colours: white, green, and red, positioned horizontally top to bottom. The colour fields are of same form and equal size. It is generally known that the white represents – the purity, the green – the forest and nature and the red – the blood of the people, referencing the strong bond of the nation through all the wars and revolutions that have shaken the country in the past.TheCoat of arms of Bulgaria is a state symbol of the sovereignty and independence of the Bulgarian people and state. It represents a crowned rampant golden lion on a dark red background with the shape of a shield. Above the shield there is a crown modeled after the crowns of the emperors of theSecond Bulgarian Empire, with five crosses and an additional cross on top. Two crowned rampant golden lions hold the shield from both sides, facing it. They stand upon two crossed oak branches with acorns, which symbolize the power and the longevity of the Bulgarian state. Under the shield, there is a white band lined with the three national colours. The band is placed across the ends of the branches and the phrase "Unity Makes Strength" is inscribed on it.
Both the Bulgarian flag and the Coat of Arms are also used as symbols of various Bulgarian organisations, political parties and institutions.
With the formation of the Bulgarian ethnicity in the mid-10th century,[184][185] the Byzantines usually called the BulgariansMoesi, and their lands,Moesia.[186]
^De acordo com dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), cerca de 62.000 brasileiros declararam possuir ascendência búlgara no ano de 2006, o que faz com que o país abrigue a nona maior colônia búlgara do mundo.
^Raymond G. Gordon, Jr.; Barbara F. Grimes, eds. (2005)."Languages of Turkey (Europe)".Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.ISBN978-1-55671-159-6.Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved14 June 2016.
^Poulton, Hugh; Committee, Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights (1989).Minorities in the Balkans. Minority Rights Group. p. 7.ISBN978-0-946690-71-8.Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved3 September 2020....'Pomaks', are a religious minority. They are Slav Bulgarians who speak Bulgarian...
^ab"Many Thracian survivals have been detected in the sphere of Bulgarian national costume and folk tradition."The Bulgarians: from pagan times to the Ottoman conquest, David Marshall Lang, Westview Press, 1976,ISBN0-89158-530-3, p. 27.
^"A detailed analysis is made of the assimilation process which took place between Slavs and Thracians. It ended in the triumph of the Slav element and in the ultimate disappearance of the Thracian ethnos ... Attention is drawn to the fact that even though assimilated, the Thracian ethnicon left behind traces of its existence (in toponymy, the lexical wealth of the Bulgarian language, religious beliefs, material culture, etc.) which should be extensively studied in all their aspects in the future ..." Dimitŭr Angelov (1971),Образуване на българската народност [Formation of the Bulgarian nation], Sofia: Издателство Наука и изкуство, "Векове", pp. 409–410. (Summary in EnglishArchived 28 May 2013 at theWayback Machine).
^Axel Kristinsson (2010),Expansions: Competition and Conquest in Europe Since the Bronze Age, Reykjavíkur Akademían,ISBN9979992212,p. 194.Archived 27 September 2023 at theWayback Machine
^Garrett Hellenthal et al. (14 February 2014). "A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History".Science, Vol. 343 no. 6172, p. 751. "CIs. for the admixture time(s) overlap but predate the Mongol empire, with estimates from 440 to 1080 CE". (Fig.3.Archived 27 September 2023 at theWayback Machine)
^"The so-called Bulgar inscriptions are, with few exceptions, written in Greek rather than in Turkic runes; they mention officials with late antique titles, and use late Antique terminology and indictional dating. Contemporary Byzantine inscriptions are not obviously similar, implying that this (Bulgar) epigraphic habit was not imported from Constantinople but was a local Bulgar development, or rather, it was an indigenous 'Roman' inheritance." M. Whittow,Nicopolis ad Istrium: Backward and Balkan.
^Bulgarian historical review, Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, pp. 53
^The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, 7th edition, p. 57
^Elemér Illyés,Ethnic Continuity in the Carpatho-Danubian Area
^Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q., eds. (1997).Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 576.ISBN978-1-884964-98-5.
^abHupchick, Dennis P.The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.ISBN1-4039-6417-3
^Petar Petrov (1981).Образуване на българската държава [Formation of the Bulgarian State]. Sofia: Издателство Наука и изкуство.
^Angelov, Dimitar (1971).Образуване на българската народност. Sofia: Издателство Наука и изкуство, "Векове".Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved13 November 2011 – via Kroraina.
^Karloukovski, Vassil; Zlatarski, Vasil N. (1970) [1st ed. 1918]. Petrov, Petar H. (ed.).История на българската държава през средните векове [History of the Bulgarian state in the Middle Ages] (2nd ed.). Наука и изкуство.Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved13 November 2011 – via Kroraina.
^Rasho Rashev,Die Protobulgaren im 5.–7. Jahrhundert, Sofia: Orbel, 2005. (in Bulgarian, German summary)
^Yordanov, Stefan (2002).Славяни, тюрки и индо-иранци в ранното средновековие: езикови проблеми на българския етногенезис [Slavs, Turks and Indo-Iranians in the Early Middle Ages: Linguistic Problems of Bulgarian Ethnogenesis]. In:Българистични проучвания. 8. Актуални проблеми на българистиката и славистиката. Седма международна научна сесия. [Bulgarian Studies. 8. Current Problems of Bulgarian and Slavic Studies. Seventh International Scientific Session]. Veliko Tarnovo, 22–23 August 2001. pp. 275–295.
^Ivan Kalchev Dobrev (2005).Надпис No 21 от българското златно съкровище "Наги Сент-Миклош" [Inscription No. 21 from the Bulgarian gold treasure 'Nagy Saint-Miklós'].Сборник с материали от Научна конференция на ВА "Г. С. Раковски" [Collection of materials from the Scientific Conference of the Academy of Sciences "G. S. Rakovski"]. Sofia.
^Angelov, Dimitŭr Simeonov (1978). "Summary".The Formation of the Bulgarian Nation. Sofia-Press.Archived from the original on 28 May 2013. Retrieved13 November 2011 – via Kroraina.com.
^Axel Kristinsson (2010).Expansions: Competition and Conquest in Europe Since the Bronze Age. Reykjavíkur Akademían.ISBN9979992212.p. 194.
^Nikolova, L.; Gergova, D. (2017). "Contemporary Bulgarian Archaeology as a Social Practice in the Later Twentieth to Early Twenty-first Century". In: Lozny L., ed.Archaeology of the Communist Era. Springer.ISBN978-3-319-45108-4.
^Diana Mishkova (2011). "Differentiation in Entanglement: Debates on Antiquity, Ethnogenesis and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Bulgaria". In Klaniczay, Gábor and Werner, Michael, eds.Multiple Antiquities – Multiple Modernities: Ancient Histories in Nineteenth Century European Cultures. Frankfurt, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 213–246.
^Stefan Detchev (2009). "Who are the Bulgarians? 'Race,' Science and Politics in Fin-de-siècle Bulgaria". In Diana Mishkova, ed.We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe. Central European University Press.ISBN9639776289. pp. 237–269.
^T. Kamusella, Peter Burke (2008,The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer,ISBN0230583474, p. 285.
^Raymond Detrez,Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria, Rowman & Littlefield, 2014,ISBN1442241802, pp. 189–190.
^Tchavdar Marinov (2015). "Ancient Thrace in the Modern Imagination: Ideological Aspects of the Construction of Thracian Studies in Southeast Europe (Romania, Greece, Bulgaria)". InEntangled Histories of the Balkans. Vol. 3.ISBN9789004290365. pp 10–117.
^Rumen Daskalov (2011).Чудният свят на древните българи [The Wonderful World of the Ancient Bulgarians]. Gutenberg.ISBN9546171212, pp. 7–11.
^Aleksandar Nikolov (2013)."Параисторията като феномен на прехода: преоткриването на древните българи" [Parahistory as a Phenomenon of Transition: The Rediscovery of the Ancient Bulgarians]. In Y. Todorov and A. Lunin, eds.Историческият хабитус: опредметената история [The Historical Habitus: Objectified History]. pp. 24–63.
^"Companion website for "A genetic atlas of human admixture history", Hellenthal et al, Science (2014)".A genetic atlas of human admixture history. Hellenthal, Garrett; Busby, George B.J.; Band, Gavin; Wilson, James F.; Capelli, Cristian; Falush, Daniel; Myers, Simon (14 February 2014)."A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History".Science.343 (6172):747–751.Bibcode:2014Sci...343..747H.doi:10.1126/science.1243518.ISSN0036-8075.PMC4209567.PMID24531965. Hellenthal, G.; Busby, G. B.; Band, G.; Wilson, J. F.; Capelli, C.; Falush, D.; Myers, S. (2014)."Supplementary Material for "A genetic atlas of human admixture history"".Science.343 (6172):747–751.Bibcode:2014Sci...343..747H.doi:10.1126/science.1243518.PMC4209567.PMID24531965.S7.6 "East Europe": The difference between the 'East Europe I' and 'East Europe II' analyses is that the latter analysis included the Polish as a potential donor population. The Polish were included in this analysis to reflect a Slavic language speaking source group." "We speculate that the second event seen in our six Eastern Europe populations between northern European and southern European ancestral sources may correspond to the expansion of Slavic language speaking groups (commonly referred to as the Slavic expansion) across this region at a similar time, perhaps related to displacement caused by the Eurasian steppe invaders (38; 58). Under this scenario, the northerly source in the second event might represent DNA from Slavic-speaking migrants (sampled Slavic-speaking groups are excluded from being donors in the EastEurope I analysis). To test consistency with this, we repainted these populations adding the Polish as a single Slavic-speaking donor group ("East Europe II" analysis; see Note S7.6) and, in doing so, they largely replaced the original North European component (Figure S21), although we note that two nearby populations, Belarus and Lithuania, are equally often inferred as sources in our original analysis (Table S12). Outside these six populations, an admixture event at the same time (910CE, 95% CI:720-1140CE) is seen in the southerly neighboring Greeks, between sources represented by multiple neighboring Mediterranean peoples (63%) and the Polish (37%), suggesting a strong and early impact of the Slavic expansions in Greece, a subject of recent debate (37). These shared signals we find across East European groups could explain a recent observation of an excess of IBD sharing among similar groups, including Greece, that was dated to a wide range between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago (37)
^"Bulgaria – Ottoman rule".Encyclopædia Britannica Online.Archived from the original on 2 January 2012. Retrieved21 December 2011.With the capture of a rump Bulgarian kingdom centred at Bdin (Vidin) in 1396, the last remnant of Bulgarian independence disappeared. ... The Bulgarian nobility was destroyed—its members either perished, fled, or accepted Islam and Turkicization—and the peasantry was enserfed to Turkish masters.
^Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity, Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives, Joshua A. Fishman, Ofelia García, Oxford University Press, 2010,ISBN0195374924, p. 276: "There were almost no remnants of a Bulgarian ethnic identity; the population defined itself as Christians, according to the Ottoman system of millets, that is, communities of religious beliefs. The first attempts to define a Bulgarian ethnicity started at the beginning of the 19th century."
^"Most of the Slavophone inhabitants in all parts of divided Macedonia, perhaps a million and a half in all – had a Bulgarian national consciousness at the beginning of the Occupation; and most Bulgarians, whether they supported the Communists, VMRO, or the collaborating government, assumed that all Macedonia would fall to Bulgaria after the WWII. Tito was determined that this should not happen. "Woodhouse, Christopher Montague (2002).The struggle for Greece, 1941–1949. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. p. 67.ISBN978-1-85065-492-6.Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved14 November 2015.
^"At the end of the WWI there were very few historians or ethnographers, who claimed that a separate Macedonian nation existed... Of those Slavs who had developed some sense of national identity, the majority probably considered themselves to be Bulgarians, although they were aware of differences between themselves and the inhabitants of Bulgaria... The question as of whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when a Communist Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs from Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians."Danforth, Loring M. (1997).The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world. Princeton University Press. pp. 58–66.ISBN978-0-691-04356-2.Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. Retrieved14 November 2015.
^During the 20th century, Slavo-Macedonian national feeling has shifted. At the beginning of the 20th century, Slavic patriots in Macedonia felt a strong attachment to Macedonia as a multi-ethnic homeland. They imagined a Macedonian community uniting themselves with non-Slavic Macedonians... Most of these Macedonian Slavs also saw themselves as Bulgarians. By the middle of the 20th. century, however Macedonian patriots began to see Macedonian and Bulgarian loyalties as mutually exclusive. Regional Macedonian nationalism had become ethnic Macedonian nationalism... This transformation shows that the content of collective loyalties can shift.Roth, Klaus; Brunnbauer, Ulf (2010).Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Ethnologia Balkanica Series. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 127–129.ISBN978-3-8258-1387-1.
^Kaufman, Stuart J. (2001).Modern hatreds: the symbolic politics of ethnic war. New York: Cornell University Press. p. 193.ISBN978-0-8014-8736-1.The key fact about Macedonian nationalism is that it is new: in the early twentieth century, Macedonian villagers defined their identity religiously—they were either "Bulgarian," "Serbian," or "Greek" depending on the affiliation of the village priest. WhileBulgarian was most common affiliation then, mistreatment by occupying Bulgarian troops during WWII cured most Macedonians from their pro-Bulgarian sympathies, leaving them embracing the new Macedonian identity promoted by the Tito regime after the war.
^Rae, Heather (2002).State identities and the homogenisation of peoples. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 274.ISBN0-521-79708-X.
^Колева Т. А. Болгары // Календарные обычаи и обряды в странах зарубежной Европы. Конец XIX — начало XX в. Весенние праздники. — М.: Наука, 1977. — С. 274–295. — 360 с.
^"??"(PDF).Tangrabg.files.wordpress.com.Archived(PDF) from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved22 November 2016.
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^Следи от бита и езика на прабългарите в нашата народна култура, Иван Коев, София, 1971.
^abMacDermott, Mercia (1 January 1998).Bulgarian Folk Customs. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. pp. 41, 44.ISBN978-1-85302-485-6.The so-called Kapantsi - an ethnographic group living mainly in the Razgrad and Turgovishte, area of north-east Bulgaria - are believed to be descendants of Asparuh's Bulgars who have maintained at least something of their original heritage...the traditional costumes of Bulgaria are derived mainly from the ancient Slav costumes...Women's costumes fall into four main categories: one-apron, two-apron, sukman and saya. Like men's costumes, these are not intrinsically separate types, but have evolved from the original chemise and apron worn by the early Slavs...Directly descended with little mutation from the dress of the ancient Slavs, the one-apron ...
^В. В. Якжик, Государственный флаг Республики Беларусь, w: Рекомендации по использованию государственной символики в учреждениях образования, page 3.
^Mellish, Liz (2010).Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion Vol 9: East Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus. Bloomsbury. p. PART 5: Southeast Europe, Bulgaria: Ethnic Dress.ISBN978-1-84788-398-8.Bulgarian women's dress include overgarments that are joined at the shoulders and are considered to have evolved from the sarafan. (the pinafore dress typically worn by women of various Slav nations). This type of garment includes the soukman and the saya and aprons that fasten at the waist that are also attributed to a Slavic origin.
^Crampton, R. J. A (2005) Concise History of Bulgaria (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press, p. 15,ISBN978-0-521-61637-9.
^Fine, John Van Antwerp (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. University of Michigan Press. p. 68,ISBN978-0472081493.
^Tsvetelin Stepanov (2019) Waiting for the End of the World: European Dimensions, 950–1200, BRILL, p. 222,ISBN9004409939.
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