Народна хигиена
People's Hygiene

Summary/Abstract: The study follows the folk beliefs and bans associated with bathing and house-cleaning widespread among the Bulgarians in the 19th and mid-20th century. They come to show that if for the man of today bathing has a hygienic purpose, for the traditional Bulgarian it was above all a ritual practice. By it he warded off evil forces and treated illnesses. And since, according to the folk conception, during treatment one is on the borderline between life and death, what is at hand is a system of bans on bathing and head washing in specific days of the week and periods of the annual calendar cycle, which are dangerous for man. Other factors also contribute to the absence of systematic habits. Among them were the overoccupation of the rural population; cohabitation of people from various generations in small houses; the absence of water and enough money; shyness of the nakedness of the human body, characteristic of the peoples of the Mediterranean region. The factors, contibuting to the change of attitudes regarding personal hygiene during the first half of the 20th century have also been outlined.

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