Bulgaria

Collapse of Communism

After the failure of communism in 1989, Pomaks (often referred to as Bulgarian Muslims) resumed their Muslim faith after decades of mandatory atheism. In 1991 a new law allowed anyone affected by a 1950s name-changing campaign three years to officially restore their original names.

The Orthodox Church is now integral to Bulgarian identity. The church resisted communist efforts to secularize society and reestablished its predominance for life events such as baptisms and weddings after the fall of the communist system. The collapse also destroyed the regional lead and zinc mining. With the loss of this communist-era, mine-based network, the Pomaks shifted to the mosque as a site for the underemployed or unemployed men to preserve their self-image, a circumstance encouraged by the Pomak women as preferable to alcoholism and abuse. Women took on more conservative family roles. The new religion preserved communist-era values of social justice, solidarity, and morality.

Family and Kinship Networks

Bulgarians are strongly family oriented. The typical family is extended rather than nuclear, with several generations sharing a household. Even separated families maintain their closeness and offer mutual support and aid. A notable modification in the second half of the 20th century was the shift of responsibility for children from the mother to the grandmother. Before the 1950s, mothers had the responsibility.

Bulgarian traditional culture established distinct dress, work, talk, and behavior by age group. Those who expressed the wrong age patterns were frowned upon, and transition from one age group to another was accompanied by appropriate initiation events such as a married woman taking a new name.

Women remain responsible for keeping the house and garden, and the keeping of poultry is a mark of status and an area of competition by married women. Wives and mothers have hens, but elderly women and young girls are not afforded this status. Courtyard gardens are also prized and during the communist era were the only privately owned peasant property. Wives and young girls kept gardens, with wives tending vegetables and girls growing flowers.

The traditional kinship networks simplified between 1960 and 1995 as the younger generation expanded their networks for financial assistance and confidential advice beyond the immediate family, but still within the greater family. And the family—father and spouse—became less authoritative as the young became more self-regulating. There was an increase in generational separation and a move toward networks based on interests rather than relationships. Even after the disruptions of 1989, the traditional family-based networks remained strong.

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