Roma people organises fair to have younger out-of one another sexes meet up with

Socialising which have strangers in pubs, hanging out with members of the family and associates, taking place blind times, with a dating internet site membership: selecting someone in progressive Bulgaria feels as though elsewhere for the south-west, but there is however a residential district where people satisfy potential spouses for the an even more conventional way.

Toward outsider (and to of many Bulgarians), all Roma look an equivalent. They are, but not, split into several teams which differ inside the religion, living and you may living. New Kalaydzhii are Eastern Orthodox Christians and also for ages have been itinerant tinkers. Its activity is passing away away now, nonetheless they keep the fresh tradition out of staying in brief communities thrown around Bulgaria.

The fresh new Kalaydzhii want to get married in their clan, however, even with the fresh new advent of the online and you will cellular telecommunications, their lifetime try a barrier so you can socialising with kinsmen. So that they manage several annual events – a time for you to generally meet loved ones and relatives, replace hearsay, conduct business and, towards the youths, to get someone in daily life.

Brand new Kalaydzhii meet towards Todorovden, a moveable meal with the earliest Monday off Lent (this year it actually was to your 8 March), near Stara Zagora, and on the brand new banquet of your Assumption, which is always to the fifteen August. Chances are they see at Bachkovo Monastery.

The newest Todorovden appointment pulls more attention on the media because it it’s time whenever of several Kalaydzhii family bring collectively the younger daughters hoping to find all of them the ideal partner.

Most are indeed there only to socialise, additionally the stand that have alcohol and kebapcheta is laden with guys (elderly people nevertheless athletics black provides, light shirts, wide-brimmed noticed limits and you will grand moustaches) feasting with friends. Pupils run around restaurants ice cream and other people head towards the horse fair that’s held only metres away from the bride fair.

Little at collecting can be compare to the latest girls, even when. They wear big eyeshadow as well as their faces is coated light and you will red. A number of the girls is shy, someone else be flirtatious. The greater amount of rich laugh generally to produce the gold white teeth, an indication of prosperity. Blue eyes and you may long-hair are other “assets” wanted by younger guys from the reasonable.

The age of future brides may differ. Regrettably, many Kalaydzhii treat its daughters of university once they come to 15 (fourteen is the age of consent when you look at the Bulgaria), and commence trying marry all of them away from. At fair, the chances try against girls within their mid-twenties. He could be felt too-old and you may, because they are most likely to get divorced, they may not be valued as virgins are.

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Whoever the target fiance, a step out-of their is their own grandma. The outdated women can be as the colourful because their granddaughters however in a antique method – they nonetheless wear the newest vibrant skirts and you can aprons of Kalaydzhii conventional outfit, in addition to their a lot of time braids hang-down the backs. The brand new grandmas gravitate around the girls, keeping an eye on the brand new menfolk, ready to ward off any incorrect behaviour, and approach people showing sincere demand for its granddaughter.

It looks hard to woo an effective girl this kind of points, but the younger guys do their finest. They walk around making use of their household members, defiantly munching sunflower seed products.

It is not strange to possess a great boy and you may an excellent girl to have had a good smash on each most other long before the latest reasonable, nevertheless they can always sit in and use it just like the formal program in order to mention their wedding.

The brand new types of their super-sexy clothing are sometimes borrowed on phase costumes of your preferred chalga divas

When good boy and you will good girl fancy each other, the grandma gets into action and immediately organises a conference ranging from the 2 household. Getting arrangement are a silky task and to save your self deal with the new negotiators desire get it done privately. As long as a binding agreement try achieved, will be the wedding as well as the contribution paid off by boy’s members of the family with the fiance in public places revealed, having sounds and you may dance on the the brand new couple.

The newest exchange of cash and you will haggling across the share are an effective essential an element of the old-fashioned reasonable that’s much argued all 12 months. If the cost savings are roaring on 2000s, an attractive virgin out of a well-to-create friends could cost up to 50,000 leva. Into the drama pricing transpired, stabilising around step 3,000-5,000 leva, to the base rates as low as 500 leva.

It’s referred to as “to order a bride-to-be,” but men at the reasonable was eager to declare that this is simply not a genuine exchange but just a society. Nobody do get married the child so you can a guy she disliked, no matter what the cash on young Hamm wife promote. Anyway, people state, the bucks taken care of the fresh bride-to-be will be used on the latest marriage, that should be because lavish and you can ostentatious since the family can be pay for.

Does this technique for finding a wife operate in terms of securing like and you may happiness regarding the years into the future? There is no laws. In the reasonable you can pick smiling young women that have short students whom discovered a husband here a year otherwise a couple of ahead of, but the amount of divorced girls “available” on a yearly basis implies that, just as in more recent method of seeking a wife, some thing may also make a mistake within bride to be reasonable.

The brand new fair is actually modifying, as well. Not that way back the newest girls would become wear the fresh new traditional dresses and aprons that now merely they grannies don. The web encourages interaction involving the children and they’ve got become to appear upon the complete affair and have towards the significance of virginity. Of numerous girls think of marrying outside of the Kalaydzhii.

Even the precise location of the reasonable is changing. Consistently it absolutely was stored with the a dirty and you may overlooked meadow merely outside the village away from Mogila, several kilometres regarding Stara Zagora, but this past year anyone decided they – as well as their stunning daughters – had got enough of the fresh new dirt in addition to disorder and also the music of your horse-fair. In the 2013, the fiance fair relocated to a discontinued parcel of land of the new Stara Zagora railway station.

Highest Ray is some posts, started from the Vagabond Journal, into the generous support of your The united states getting Bulgaria Foundation, that aims to add info and you can history off cities, social agencies, situations, personalities and you will points away from lives which can be either tough to discover with the outsider on Balkans. The best point is the preservation off Bulgaria’s social customs – including but not limited by archaeological, cultural and you can cultural range.