NAMES FOR THE LOCAL LANGUAGE IN BOBOSHTICA, REGION OF KORCE, ALBANIA. FOLKLORE MEMORIES OF A BULGARIAN PAST
NAMES FOR THE LOCAL LANGUAGE IN BOBOSHTICA, REGION OF KORCE, ALBANIA. FOLKLORE MEMORIES OF A BULGARIAN PAST

Summary/Abstract: Terrain research in 2009–2010 ascertained the fact that the village of Boboshtica, Region of Korçë, Albania, is one of the places where people with Bulgarian consciousness and Bulgarophile sentiments still live. Unlike many other places on the Balkans, the village has had no Bulgarian religious, educational or other institutions or organizations and has not been under Bulgarian administrative control for the last couple of centuries, besides, none of the two native speakers of the local language, resident in the village, has ever been in Bulgaria or received Bulgarian education. One of them (50% of them) – Mrs. Elpi Manço – calls her language Kaj Nas, and the other 50% – Mr. Ilo Kuneshka – call it Bulgarian. The term Kaj Nas appeared for the first time in the thirties of the twentieth century. All older sources, home and external, use only the term Bulgarian. The main means to preserve and hand down the Bulgarian consciousness in Boboshtica is the folklore and, in particular, the folklore memories of the local history and of the history of Bulgaria. In this respect legends about the foundation of Boboshtica by Bulgarians in the Middle Ages and about Krali Marko, folklore variants of the history of the Third Bulgarian State and of the Bulgarian anthem, a folklore variant of a story of the Greek bishop’s disapproval of a local translation of the Gospel “into Bulgarian”, the folklore knowledge that “Bulgaria is our old fatherland” are documented in older written sources and in contemporary video-materials. The data available represent the Bulgarian consciousness in Boboshtica as age-old, with its roots in the Middle Ages and in the folklore memories of the past.

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