Социална организация на традиционната овчарска бачия в Западна Стара планина
Social Organization of the Traditional Shepherds' Bacia in the Western Stara Planina

Summary/Abstract: This study considers the social and organizational structure of the traditional shepherds' organizations in Western Stara Planina (the Balkan Range), known by the name of Shepherds' Bacias. It covers the period from the second half of the 19th up to the first decades of the 20th century and also sheds light on the historical development of these associations. A thorough analysis of the customary folk legal and democratic principles on which these unique associations were built up is made. The author emphasizes that the shepherds' bacias were folk cooperative production organizations, created by two social groups in a village community: the one, a group of shepherds, engaged in productive activities, the other, the owners of the sheep, who provided the conditions necessary for these activities. He shows that the shepherds, who took part in the association with their own sheep, were members of the cooperative and representatives of both groups in it. The production relations and the social hierarchy in the group of shepherds, ones which they observed so that the bacia could function, are shown, together with the principles which guided the sheepowners in their voluntary association for one milking or grazing season. The way in which profits and expenses were distributed is also shown and how the final product of the common herd was obtained, etc. Space is given to the different functions of the shepherds' associations as social-cultural forms of production relations. The social-economic mechanisms and processes are studied and also the trends due to changes in the organizational and production structure of the shepherds' bacias which led to their rejection by the new social reality. The remnants of and the continuity between tradition and the present practice in life are looked for.

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