The System of Socialist Holidays and Rituals in Bulgaria

Bibliographic Data

ID3074585
AuthorsJuliana Roth (corresponding author), Klaus Roth (0000-0002-7738-5872)
Year1989
Volume20
Issue1
Publication date1989-12-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnologia Europaea (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0425-4597 • E-ISSN: 1604-3030
PublisherBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.16995/ee.1322
OpenAlexW3094030288
LanguageEN
Citations received3

Cultural management of the everyday life of the people by a clerical, intellectual or political elite has a long history. The attempts of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries at creating a "socialist way of life'' which includes an all embracing system of socialist holidays and rituals are presented as one of the most radical examples of cultural management by a political elite. In Bulgaria, the socialist holidays and rituals were developed in the early 1970s by commissions (which included ethnographers and folklorists). Detailed scenarios were tested on a regional basis, and in 1978 the ritual system was introduced nationwide. The example of socialist life cycle rituals demonstrates that in spite of persuasion and enforcement the rituals for the secular baptism (name-giving ), wedding, and funeral were accepted only partly and in a selective and adaptive manner, while other rituals (like the Handing out of the first ID) were not accepted. As a result of "negotiation" between the ruling elite and the people and of growing public criticism, the government reduced the number of holidays and rituals and the degree of obligation. The development since the political changes in late 1989 points to a return to traditional forms

Baptism · Criticism · Elite · Everyday life · Latvian · Negotiation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Law · Sustainable Urban and Rural Development

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access