What Do Bulgarians in Australia Celebrate and How Cover Image

Какво и как празнуват българите в Австралия
What Do Bulgarians in Australia Celebrate and How

Author(s): Elya Tsaneva
Subject(s): Anthropology
Published by: Институт за етнология и фолклористика с Етнографски музей при БАН

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to present the system of holidays and feasts, celebrated among the Bulgarian immigrants in Australia, shown from ethnological point of view. It begins with revealing and discussing of historical-statistic data about the Bulgarians in this part of the world, inevitable for such studies, which is viewed within the broader context of some theoretical considerations about the emigration as an object of contemporary ethnology. Three groups of holidays are described: the official state (national and public) holidays of the „old“ and „new“ homelands; the holidays, deriving from the traditional Bulgarian family- and kinship circles; as well as those adapted from the new cultural milieu. According to the analysis, there is a tendency of establishment of a new type festive environment for the Bulgarian immigrants in Australia, that is slowly replacing the impossible for realization kinship- and family collective. The leading roles in this environment belong to the collegial, the neighboring and the national communities. The development of the holidays’ system is towards a major reduction of the feasts, rituals and symbols inherited from the native culture. But the significant process is the globalization of the immigrants’ festiveness through its filling out with some examples of the present environment: not only the one of the receiving country, but also deriving from other cultures, imported in Australia.

  • Issue Year: 2005
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 35-47
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Bulgarian