„Френската сватба" в Шумен през 1875 г.
The "French Wedding" in Shoumen in 1875

Summary/Abstract: The article relates the dramatic public clash which occurred in the metropolitan.s town of Shoumen in early 1875 and concerned the marriage of the distinguished Bulgarian maid Vassilka with French engineer Simon Ferry. As a result of the skillfully conducted propaganda of the local radical leaders and the firm position of Metropolitan Simeon of Varnaand- Preslav the conclusion of the controversial Bulgarian-French marriage in Shoumen was impeded. Since things proceeded to mass demonstrations and blood-stained fights, the story won nation-wide popularity. For months on end practically all the Bulgarian political newspapers carried reports and comments about the fate of the public and personal factors involved in the .French wedding.. In the course of the .French wedding. was created a curious unity between the radical and moderate wings of the local social elite around the ideas and values of modern nationalism. On the basis of that the article defends the thesis that in the concrete National revival reality very often the conditionally drawn differences between the various political groupings were reduced to a degree where particularly stood out the all-Bulgarian dimensions of the problem of national identity.

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