Places to Exchange Cultural Patterns: The Market and the “Piazza for Hired Labor” in Sofia
Places to Exchange Cultural Patterns: The Market and the “Piazza for Hired Labor” in Sofia

Summary/Abstract: Markets play a significant role for cultural exchange in the everyday life of the Balkans. Agricultural markets are urban areas where town and village meet. They are places for the exchange of goods, services, labor, cultural patterns, and urban modes of behavior, and they are places for public appearance. The paper deals with the development of the market and the piazza for hired labor in Sofia from 1878 to the middle of the 20th century as a “channel” through which new cultural patterns penetrated the “intimate world” of the patriarchal village. The gender specifics of seasonal work are also dealt with, as being a mason was a male role and being a servant was a female one. Contrary to this, the market for agricultural produce was not a place of cultural exchange. The penetration of new behavioral models and urban ways into the patriarchal village was a result mainly of (male and female) seasonal migrations to the rapidly growing cities. Since the 1920s, being a housemaid in a wealthy urban family became a crucial point in the life-cycle of girls from the mountainous regions around Sofia (known as “Šopluk”).

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