Ден за почитане на мъртвите при българите мюсюлмани в Тетевенско
A Day for Commemoration of the Dead among the Bulgarian Muslims from Teteven Region

Summary/Abstract: The annual general commemoration of the dead Tursko Chetiriyset [Turkish Forty] is little known and not described up to now. It could be observed on the 27 of March in the villages of Galata, Gradeshnitsa and Glogovo (Teteven Region), inhabited by compact Bulgarian Muslim population. On that day before noon a great number of people visit the cemeteries - the graves are cleaned up and poured down with water, the deceased are lamented for and food is given out. The studying of this ritual practice is a result of fieldwork in the villages of Galata and Gradeshnitsa and direct observations in Galata in 1999 and 2001. The interviews and observations are documented on audio-records, photographs and a video-film. The local people observe the day, called "Turkish/Our Forty" as their specific holiday and compare it to the "Bulgarian Forty" (the Forty Holy Martyrs, March 22). The holiday has a well-developed structure of ritual actions and takes an important place in the communal life of Teteven pomaks, in their memorial and funeral rituals. In the past, on the afternoon of that day, there were traditional amusements, characteristic for other spring holidays in the Bulgarian lands as well. These peculiarities, viewed in comparison with different cultural traditions, suggest connections to a certain type of spring memorial holidays, practiced in different forms by both Muslims and Christians on the Balkans and in Asia Minor. It could be accepted that this holiday is a local variant of the popular holiday Kırklar (Newruz), which for some reasons has become predominantly (only) a day for commemoration of the dead.

• Details
• Contents