This document summarizes the life paths of three generations of women from the Thracian whitesmith Romani group in Bulgaria. It describes the traditional practices around marriage and family for the eldest generation, including arranged marriages coordinated with seasonal work. It then outlines changes over subsequent generations, such as more choice in partners, weddings held outside the home, and some children choosing to marry younger or against their parents' wishes. Overall it suggests that while some traditions persist, modernization has brought more independent choices for young people.

1. The Thracian Female Whitesmith – Between Tradition and the Challenges of Modern
Times (Life Paths of Three Generations of Women)
Eugenia I. Ivanova and Velcho Krastev
Assoc. Prof. Eugenia I. Ivanova PhD in History in The Regional Museum of History, Stara
Zagora, Bulgaria. E-mail: evgenia_iv@abv.bg;
http://www.balkanethnology.org/files/cv/E.Ivanova.pdf
Velcho Krastev is a PhD student at the section “Bulgarian Ethnology” at The Institute of
Folklore and Ethnography of the Ethnographic Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. E-mail:
tehnitari@gmail.com; http://www.balkanethnology.org/files/cv/V.Krastev.pdf
The social and economic changes in Bulgaria that started in the second half of the XX
century and continued until the beginning of the XXI violate the traditional stereotypes of gypsy
groups. This report traces the life paths of three generations of women. They are from a strictly
protected gypsy/ Roman group called Thracian whitesmiths („тракийски калайджии”
(Bulgarian), [tra`ki:ski kalai`dji:] – Thracian whitesmiths).
The report examines the changes that have taken place:
- In the planning of a family and in the choice of a marital partner
- In the gender relations – the most conservative field in the traditional gypsy culture.
- In the interfamilial relationships of the extended family and the influence on the upbringing
of children.
- In the life style as a factor for the changes in the family.
- In the economic conditions that have led to the development of new forms of employment
- Responses to the modern needs for education.
The various excerpts from the lives of the three generations of women are indicative of the
changes that occur within the group. Some of the young people have started to overcome many
stereotypes, slowly and with difficulty, in the last decades. Changes occur, but they are
implemented slowly over time, they are limited in scale and have relatively little social impact
compared to the requirements of modern times.

2. The Thracian whitesmiths are a strictly closed group and discriminate themselves from the
rest of the gypsy subdivisions. Their language is from the Vlach language group of gypsy dialects.
The numerous adopted Greek, Turkish and Bulgarian words confirm their long time habitation of
Thrace (geographic region in the Balkans). Their verbal history tells that their forefathers came
from the Komotini region, Greece.
Their semi-nomadic way of life is linked to certain territories and places. The regular
general annual meetings of the group are also a characteristic feature.
The Thracian whitesmiths are Orthodox Christians and baptize their children in a church.
They honor the traditional Bulgarian holidays.
They are strictly endogamous and almost never marry other people outside their own
group. But if this were to happen, they say that the person “has made a big fool of themselves”
.
While researching the history, way of life and culture of the gypsy groups in Bulgaria, we
have had the opportunity to be in contact with the large whitesmith families for many years. We
observe the processes that develop among the younger members, and especially among the
women; the changes that take place in the most conservative field of the traditional gypsy culture
– the gender relations. This work traces the individual life paths of three generations of women in
a traditional whitesmith family – that of Ivan and Anka Kolev (73 years old) from the village of
Kolarovo, near the town of Stara Zagora. They come from the “vlahorya” [„влахоря” (Bulgarian) –
[vlaho`rya] – vlahorya, gypsy subgroup] subgroup and they say about the other subgroup: “The
others, the “salatsi” [„салаци” (Bulgarian) – [sa`latzi] – salatsi, gypsy subgroup], are inferior to us”
(granny Anka). They come from large families – Ivan has four brothers and three sisters, and

3. Anka – two brothers and three sisters.
The period of their life path spans from the 40’s of the 20th
century until the beginning of
the second decade of the 21st
century. The economic and political conditions in which the
generations live are different and have substantial influence. In the second half of the 20th
century, in Bulgaria existed the so called socialist society. It was characterized by planned
economy, closed within the borders of the socialist states community and the totalitarian political
leadership of BCP (The Bulgarian Communist Party). The democratic socio-economic changes in
the country, which started after 1989 and continue to present day, violate the traditional
stereotypes of the gypsy groups. The impact of the world economic crisis is also substantial
during the second half of the first decade of the 21st
century.
The Thracian whitesmiths coordinate the choice of marital partner and the wedding with
the seasons of active labor.
In the nomadic years, these processes took place in the period from the end of August (the
Assumption of Virgin Mary church holiday) until about the beginning of October. Then, at different
places were held the traditional annual meetings of the group – “pero”, “pera” [„перо”, „пера”
(Bulgarian) – [pero],[pera] – annual meetings of the gypsy group]. The young members saw each
other there. The father and the mother of the boy chose the daughter-in-law, they negotiated with
the girl’s parents. “Ivan desired me a lot, but I didn’t want him. There were many who wanted me.
One family insisted very much before my father ‘Give her to us…, give me Anka’, but my father
did not agree. And I wanted very much a boy from our own. But his family travelled faraway in the

4. summer and my parents did not give me there. Ivan’s father liked me for a daughter-in-law, and
Ivan was also already a master. He lives near. This made my father agree… I am pleased from
my life with him” shares granny Anka with a smile.
Today, the traditional annual meetings of the Thracian whitesmiths are more commonly
known as “bride markets”. Until the late 50’s of the 20th
century, on the Assumption of Virgin Mary
church holiday (August), they were held in the village of Belozem, Plovdiv. They were stopped
around 1970 and were moved to the town of Nova Zagora. In the town of Stara Zagora they
started as of the early 90’s of the 20th
century. The meetings happen at the Station Garden (in
Stara Zagora) from the middle of September until St. Lazarus’ Day and Palm Sunday (April). The
biggest one is on St. Theodore’s Day. As of 2008, the “market” was moved to the village of Mogila
near Stara Zagora.
During the last 30-40 years to a certain extent is changed the way the young meet. The
bachelors and the maidens can mutually look each other over and like each other. The mothers of
the girls prepare them carefully for the meeting. Their faces are always whitened: “… the girl is
whitened, our tradition is such”, and the makeup – lipstick, rouge, eyeliner – is with bright colors.
The mothers-in-law themselves are positive that: “the woman must wear makeup. She is not
beautiful, if she doesn’t wear makeup. With blue on her eyes, with ointments, with red on the
cheeks”. Mandatory for the maidens is the white “feather” bunch – a flower made of fabric, which
is a sign that the girl has come to the brides market and is offered as a bride.
If the young want each other they exchange “signs” – a handkerchief, a ring or other small personal

5. object. They share their wish with their parents and the in-laws negotiate regarding the new family. If they
don’t want to get together – they let their parents deny the request.
These meetings serve the purpose of not only maintaining the contacts within the group, but also of
introducing the newly born, the newlywed (in this way they are practically legitimized before the group).
This is also the time of weddings. The Thracian whitesmiths have preserved even until today “baba ak”
(„баба ак” (Bulgarian) – [baba ak]) (“the right of the father”) – the father must be paid for the girl.
The wedding of the eldest from the large family – Ivan andAnka, was in September 1958 in the
town of Sadovo, Plovdiv, where the whitesmiths had made a camp. The wedding continued three days –
from Saturday until Monday. Her hair was dyed with henna on Saturday. Under the pretence that they
were getting henna, Ivan’s lovers (the girls, who liked him and wanted him for a husband) plucked off her
hair. They were jealous of her that Ivan was taking her for a wife. He drove them away from the tent.
“On Sunday the wedding had already begun. My brother took a good horse that belonged to Ivan’s
family and rode him. He made the horse dance. It danced, danced. If only you could see how it danced.
He lifted me up behind him and continued riding the horse on the meadow, where the wedding was. I was
afraid of falling, but my brother calmed me down and told me that there was nothing to be afraid of. We
lead the round dance [„хоро” (Bulgarian) – [ho`ro] – horo, Bulgarian folk dance] with the horse. My father

6. was also in the round dance. Ivan got on a mare, also a very good mare. He was wearing boots that had
spurs. He also made the mare dance. He gave me a hand and pulled me on his horse behind him. After
that he stepped at the head of the round dance. This happened at noon. In the evening my father gave me
to Ivan. Then all guests were at the table, they gave us gifts. Then, also, we were together for the first time.
They left us alone in a tent, the tent of my father-in-law. There were rugs hanging from here and there. No
one inside, only us. Everyone waits outside…” tellsAnka about her wedding.
The result from the marital coitus is awaited impatiently. The mother-in-law goes in to get
and take out the white cloth with the red stain, the symbol of virginity. She shows “the honor” for
everyone to see. “When we see the honor, when we see the linen and when the bride goes out
we decorate her with red right here (points behind the right ear) – a stem of geranium, red thread,
a red flower, but a little one. Everyone has to see. Everyone has to know. She wears it until she
takes off the veil, until Wednesday”. The wedding in the gypsy groups is legalized through the
coitus.
The entire behavior regarding the coitus and the announcing of the result is regulated by
the tradition. That is how the new status of the girl in the community is legitimized. By taking her
virginity, she is already an acquired valuable for the man and his family.
Ivan and Anka were also legally wedded later. They have five daughters, 16 grandchildren
and 13 great grandchildren.
“When the time came for my daughters, men started looking at them, but they themselves

7. also looked around… I asked them whom they wanted, because some girls get ill from the desire
to be with a certain boy, if her parents don’t give her to him. Me and Ivan knew the families of the
boys. My daughters considered our wish…” (granny Anka). The weddings of the first two –
Mariika and Elenka, in 1979 and in 1980, were held in the village of the husband. Animals were
butchered, “kurban” [„курбан” (Bulgarian) – [kur`ban] – kurban, sacrificial meal] was made.
“Everything is as it should be. Meals, drinks. Gifts are given – money, clothes, kitchenware”. After
eating, everyone goes to the center of the village, on the village square, and there they do round
dances. The weddings of the next two – Ruska and Katya, which were in 1986 and 1987, were
held in a restaurant in town (Stara Zagora). Guests were invited – relatives, friends. They ordered
grilled meat – meatballs, kebabs. The dancing and the merriment happened in front of the
restaurant, outdoors. Gradually, as of the early 90’s of the 20th
century, the weddings began to be
held entirely outdoors – at the place, where they gathered for their traditional meetings. The
wedding of the youngest daughter – Donka, in 1995, was held on the landing next to the Station
Garden in Stara Zagora. There everyone danced, there they gave gifts to the young.
The acknowledged rule – outdoors, on a meadow – was observed also for the weddings of
the granddaughters towards the end of the first decade of the 21st
century. All whitesmiths, who
wanted to be there, were present. Before the gift giving, it was announced when and where the
next wedding will be. Everyone, who wanted, could go.
The wedding of the granddaughter Violeta was in May 2011. It was held in the village of
Mogila, on the meadow, where they gathered on St. Theodore’s Day. “A big wedding, there were

8. many people. People came from everywhere. The entire meadow was full of cars. They danced a
lot. It was the whole day. Gifts were given from 5 am until 8 pm. The relatives gave the most – her
mother, her aunts, the grandmothers and the grandfathers”. Almost all young families are also
legally wedded. Some have a religious marriage too. One of the granddaughters – Temenuzhka,
was married in 2009. An Orthodox priest baptized and wedded them on the day of the wedding.
They didn’t go to the church, the priest came to the place.
The Thracian whitesmiths don’t marry young – the girls, most often, after 18 years of age,
and the boys at 20-22 years of age. Anka and Ivan were 20 years old. The daughters and the
grandchildren also married at 18-20 years of age. One of the granddaughters, Anka, 16 years old,
says: “A-a-a, I’m still young, I don’t want to get married.”
With time, the relationship between the young and the parents changes more and more in
regard to choosing life partners. The parents more often take into consideration the desires of the
young. “If they like each other, they talk on the phone, the boy visits her place. If not – you can’t
force it” (a young married whitesmith).
The granddaughter, Violeta, shared when we met at her parents’ home the evening before
the meeting on St. Theodore’s Day (March 2011): “The young nowadays are very different from
back then. When the parents are more flexible, they understand us, it’s different. They take into
consideration the desire of the girl, they ask her. I liked him (points to her husband Ivan) and told

9. them that I wanted him. They agreed.” In January 2011 the 20-year-old Violeta was married to
that boy. Her father did not agree with her choice “because they [the family of the boy] were
poor”. She said that if they didn’t give her to him, she would run away with the boy and then her
father agreed. “They gave her cheaply – they [the family of the boy] paid only 5000 BGN, but they
are poor, don’t have much.” Her grandmother also brags “Violeta is pregnant, we’ll have a great
grandchild, I’m very happy”. Two years earlier, on grandpa Ivan’s 70th
birthday, in front of the
entire family she “danced and presented herself” before another boy, a distant relative. Then they
told us they liked each other and would probably get married.
“Now when the girls like a boy, they go to him. This year (2010) we have many runaways –
five. And there is no “baba ak” – her father doesn’t get anything. A pair of shoes at the most. Back
in the day such a thing did not exist” shares grandpa Ivan. “They have no money, they try to
runaway. They run away there and give 100-200 BGN” adds another old whitesmith.
In this family there is also a runaway. The granddaughter Katya was 16 years old when
she ran away from home and went to live with a boy (2009). Her parents stepped in. “She was
underage, we got her back with the police. She lived with the boy for four months, but not all the
time, she went there for a month, then came back and so on. We didn’t have a wedding. The boy
is not good, he beat her, harassed her, listened to his parents a lot. She ran away a second time
with another boy. Now she lives with Vasil. This is his first marriage. It’s been a year now. He
doesn’t mind that she’s been married. She is beautiful, he likes her. Soon we’ll have a wedding.
They still don’t have children.” Shares her mother, Mariika.
And grandpa Ivan adds: “There are also stolen ones. My brother’s granddaughter was

10. stolen. First she married a boy. She stayed there a little and her mother took her back. After that
she was stolen – from the water fountain, a boy with his friend. They grabbed her into a car and
took her at their place. But she resisted and managed to run away through the window. And
nothing happened and she came home. The men went to their place in order for the two families
not hate each other. And the boy paid – he gave 2000 BGN (2007) After that they went to Greece
and work there now. The boys want her, but she doesn’t want to get married.”
Regardless of the fact that the Thracian whitesmiths are still one of the most closed
groups, violation of the endogamy is observed in recent years. Three or four girls from the
subgroup of the “salatsi” in the Plovdiv region are married to Bulgarians. A young 20-year-old
whitesmith from the subgroup of the “vlahorya” secretly shares that she wants to marry a
Bulgarian, but she won’t say this to her parents.
The changes in the lifestyle bring changes in the family.
Up until the end of the 50’s of the 20th
century, the Thracian whitesmiths lead a seasonal
nomadic life. They left after St. Theodore’s Day (March-April) and settled in different villages for
the winter around St. Demetrius’ Day (October).
After the wedding, the young family of Ivan and Anka lived with a mother and father-in-law.

11. The prohibition of sexual intercourse ends with the marital coitus. The young woman has to
become pregnant quickly and give birth to a child. “I married in September 1958 and got pregnant
in May 1959. I was thin, I was small. My mother-in-law said “kasur” (“childless”) („касър”
(Bulgarian) – [ka`sәr]). When I got pregnant she said “no kasurs” (granny Anka). Their sexual life
is overseen and controlled by the adults. “When we travelled with the camp, we were already
married, we lived in a tent together with my mother and father-in-law and the other young
children. At night we put a curtain in the middle. We have our own blanket and under it. We kept
quiet. My in-laws were also quiet. Everyone finds a way (she means the other families in the
other camps). I was not ashamed. You get used to it. The children slept inside. When they fell
asleep, then” (granny Anka).The situation changes depending on the way of life – nomadic or
settled way of life. “When we went to the village of Graf Igantievo, Plovdiv, we rented a house and
everyone was there. Everyone had their own room and there… My in-laws separately. My
husband’s sister also there with the child – her husband was in the military. I was with my own
one in the other room. Now everyone has their own room. The house is big. The children are
separately.”
The mother-in-law is the one who communicates most closely with the daughter-in-law
during the day. She defines and controls the duties and the responsibilities of the daughter-in-law,
her daily work rhythm. She dictates the behavior of the young wife, who has to accept this
guardianship and take into consideration the habits in her new home.
The conflicts often arise from the mother-in-law. When they rented the house in the village

12. of Graf Ignatievo, Ivan was in the military service. The mother-in-law, her daughter and the
daughter-in-law gave birth almost at the same time. “The children grew up together… My mother-
in-law was a very bad woman.” One day, after another fight, Anka took her baby and some
clothes and ran to the station to go to the village of Belozem to her parents. Her mother-in-law
caught up with her and told her to leave her the baby “If you want to look after it, here, take it” and
Anka went to her parents. At this time the mother-in-law was taking care of both babies. When
Ivan found out that Anka had left, he wrote to her “when I come back home I want to see you
there” “And I came back.” Ivan and Anka started living alone only after the death of the mother-in-
law – their five daughters had already been born.
A similar conflict between the generations happened also in the family of the oldest
daughter, Mariika. Her son, Kolio, and the daughter-in-law, Mariika, lived with them. When Mariika
was pregnant, her mother took her back home. “She was angry about something. I don’t know.
Probably that we didn’t arrange the wedding sooner (they were not legitimized before the
community). She gave birth at her mother’s home. Kolio got very angry and got himself another
woman. For a short time. Only a week. Things happen this way. A few months passed and he
took back his wife with the child, the girl. It is his. After that they had another baby” (Mariika).
With the execution of decree #258 from 1958 by the Council of Ministers “For settling the
issues of the gypsy population of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria”, the Thracian whitesmiths
started settling down. One or two families settled in each village. There they also bought houses.

13. The married sons with their families were also displaced. The youngest son (daughter) stays with
the parents, inherits their property and takes care of them (right of the minor). The eldest from the
examined extended family live in the village of Kolarovo, Stara Zagora. The families of the
daughters live in nearby villages. The youngest, Donka, with her husband, Gosho, and their two
children lived until recently with her parents, but also left. She went to a nearby village, where her
older sister lives with her family. There they have better conditions for living. “We have a big
house. Everyone has their own room. The children, Anka and Ivan, they have their own room.
They sleep there” (Donka).
It is a fact that for the women from the younger generation, the traditional large family
model is being replaced more and more by the desire to have one or two children. This is a
relatively new tendency in the attitude towards children. The aim is not only to raise them and
keep them safe, but also to provide a better future for them “I have two children, that is enough
for me” (Donka).
During the last decade, individual, younger representatives of the group, resort to
contraceptive methods for limiting the number of children in the family. “I gave birth to five
daughters, but the youngest one has only two children… She doesn’t want more… one shouldn’t
say this, she uses a diaphragm. My granddaughter Todorka – also…” (granny Anka).
The change in the economic conditions leads to seeking new forms of labor.
Since they can remember, the traditional craft of the Thracian whitesmiths has been tin-
plating, repairing and production of copperware, hence their name. This is done mainly by the
men, and the women and children are always by their side, helping them. “Before we got together
with Ivan, I used to go with my parents around the villages to tin. I helped during the tinning –
cleaned the utensils, prepared them. I went around the village to return the tinned utensils to the
people. I went alone, alone, I was not afraid at all. I brought my little sister with me. They asked
me if she was my child. I told them – no, she’s my sister” (granny Anka). Grandpa Ivan, as well as
the men from his whole family, are master whitesmiths. They say that he is the best one. His
sons-in-law can tin too, but only Ivan – husband of the fourth daughter, helps him.

14. Because the market for their goods and services is quite limited, the whitesmith families
are seeking new forms of labor. During the last ten years or so, they have been building and
repairing streets (all sons-in-law of grandpa Ivan do this), buying and selling animal skins. They
go around the villages, buying skins and sometimes animals.
Traditionally, the women don’t work. It is an exception to take up a job as cleaning women
under programs for temporary employment for several months (e.g. the youngest – Katya and
Donka). Donka, who is always with her husband when trading animal skins, wants to practice the
so called “suitcase trade” (to sell clothes in the villages). The economic conjuncture, however,
prevents her from doing this.
After the fall of the totalitarian regime in Bulgaria, emigration is an option for finding a way
out of the difficult economic situation and an opportunity for raising the family standard of living.
Almost none of the Thracian whitesmiths joined the migration flows during the first years. There
were only several cases of travelling abroad and they were in connection with their professional
specialization. Their first seasonal travels were in Greece. They made good money from repairing
and tinning church and home utensils. They have a field for professional realization there,
because “the whitesmiths in Greece, south of Athens, are from our kin, but they have lost the
craft.” In the last years, several families settled in Greece, others on the island of Cyprus. They
bring their instruments with them, tin, but also work everything in agriculture.
Even though in individual cases, the women from this group also seek to make a living
from prostitution. “There are female whitesmiths from our own who have degraded… Most of
them are from the ones around Plovdiv, they do many shameful things. Everyone knows them.
This V., who ran away from her husband, she also went on the road for men. All whitesmiths

15. know.” (granny Anka). V. is from a neighboring village around Stara Zagora. She has been
married. Became a prostitute. Went abroad and turned to the evangelical faith. She hides her
origins. “I don’t want to show them the tape from my wedding, I don’t want them to see that I’m a
whitesmith”.
There is gossip about a woman from their own, who went to work in Greece and got
pregnant “No one knows who the father is”. She gave birth there and sold the child “For a lot of
money. For 50 000 Euro. There is also another, older girl, 16 years old. All whitesmiths know. She
doesn’t have any shame” (grandpa Ivan).
The internal relations within the extended family also change and this influences the
education of the children.
The traditional model of realization in life of the female whitesmith is still within the
community – to get married, to create a home and a family, to give birth, raise and educate the
children, to wait for grandchildren, to pass on her experience and knowledge, to preserve the
ethnicity.
Traditionally, one of the main concerns of the mother is to preserve the honor of her
daughters. With the first menstruation, the girl turns into a maiden and according to the gypsy
customs, she can now become a woman, wife and mother. Things are a little different with the
Thracian whitesmiths. They say “She has become a maiden /”Ачили чей” (Gypsy) – [achili chei]/.

16. The girls are still young, we protect them, we don’t give them away.” (Ruska). Usually the older
brothers or the father are the ones who protect them. Grandpa Ivan guards his daughters by
himself, because he doesn’t have any sons “I was with them everywhere they went, to the store,
to the cinema”. The maiden puts a red or pink “feather” (artificial flower) in her hair and when she
is ready to be married, exchanges it with a white one. The girls, who offer themselves for
marriage on the traditional meetings, wear white flowers in their hair.
In every whitesmith family the eldest woman (mother, aunt, mother-in-law, grandmother) is
a role model for the young to follow her example. Anka’s father-in-law always told repeatedly to
his daughters-in-law to learn from their mother-in-law how to raise the children. And her
granddaughters say: “I want to be like granny”. “Granny, I learned everything from you – to cook,
to prepare ‘banitsa’(„баница” (Bulgarian) – [`banitza] – traditional pie with white cheese), to
prepare ‘tikvenik’ („тиквеник” (Bulgarian) – [`tikvenik] – pumpkin pie)”.

17. The eldest woman keeps and preserves the traditions. She passes them onto her
daughters and granddaughters. Anka remembers when she was about 10 years old (1948) she
was dressed as a “butterfly” for the first time. Her clothes were new, with many adornments. Her
mother, aunt and other close women performed the ritual in the camp (this is performed when
there is continuous drought, so that it may rain, a type of prayer for rain. Spread on the Balkans).
They poured water on her and told her the words she had to say. They did this because of the
drought, there wasn’t enough grass for the horses. Later, in 1965-1966 in the village of
Bozduganovo, Stara Zagora, where Anka was living at the time with her husband and children,
they also performed “butterfly”. The idea then came from the Bulgarian women, also due to the
drought (August). Anka said she knew what to do – she dressed her oldest daughter (5-6 years
old) in new clothes, poured water on her and pronounced certain words with a prayer for rain.
Anka’s mother and aunt (sister of her mother) impress the young with their abilities to call
upon the dead and talk to them. “I’ve seen daddy after he died. On the 40th
day we went with
mom and my sisters to his grave. At 12 o’clock at noon. Mom took a white bottle and filled it with
white wine, removed the cork. She put it in the middle of the grave and said: “Kosta, show
yourself, show yourself”. And saw him in the bottle, coming out of some woods, the way he was
dressed when we last saw him. I saw him too, and my sisters saw him. Before that I didn’t believe
I could see him.”
“You can see the dead on Easter or on St. George’s Day at noon, between 12 and 1
o’clock. We went to the water well with my aunt and took a mirror. She put it on top. Tilted, so that

18. you could see the water and also we could see in it. My aunt called upon the dead: Elenka,
Donka, come here so we can see you! And this is how I saw them in the mirror, passing by in a
circle, dressed the way we last saw them (wearing the clothes they were buried with)”.
The contemporary needs of education also change the attitudes of the Thracian
whitesmiths.
One of the hardest stereotypes to break is the one for higher education of the girls. It is
true that today they finish primary education (8th
grade), unlike their mothers and grandmothers.
But after that, their parents prevent them from going to school. On one hand, due to the fear that
someone might steal them (“Many people want her, she is young, her mother won’t give her
away. A Bulgarian also wants her…” – granny Anka, about one of her granddaughters). On the
other hand, this is the time when the girl has to become a good housewife, to be prepared for
married life (“At home I cook, wash, clean. My brother Ivan is hungry when he gets back from
school. I tell him: ‘Sit at the table, I’ll bring you food, I’ve cooked…’ – Anka, 16 years old”). Unlike
the girls, if the boys want to study, they continue and finish secondary education.
Grandpa Ivan, granny Anka, as well as their brothers and sister, have not been to school.
They learned reading, elementary calculation and writing on their own. From all of their five
daughters, although they were already settled, only the youngest went to school until 8th
grade.
The rest are self-educated. The situation with the granddaughters is different now. All girls study

19. until 8th
grade, and the boys continue in professional high schools. Living in a different social
environment from the one of their parents, they are children with contemporary needs. They want
to learn foreign languages, to possess and work with a computer, to drive a car. Due to the
deeply rooted wedding traditions for the girls in the group, they realize that they don’t have a right
to choose. “I want to study, but they won’t let me. I finished 8th
grade. I’m at home all day. Wash
the dishes, cook, sweep” (Anka, 16 years old, child of the fourth daughter, Katya). “They, the
Bulgarian children, have the right to choose. We don’t. I wanted to study in Stara Zagora so
much. They wouldn’t let me. I want to get a driver’s license, to drive a car… (shrugs her
shoulders, gesturing that she knows this cannot happen) I didn’t study English very well at
school, I am sorry for that. If I could take it back…” (Anka, 16 years old, child of the youngest
daughter, Donka).
The different moments from the lives of the three generations of women from the group of
the Thracian whitesmiths show the changes that occur within the entire group. In the last
decades, part of the young people start to overcome slowly and painfully various stereotypes.
This costs a great deal of effort. Changes occur, but they come slowly in time, limited in range
and with relatively weaker social effect compared to the contemporary requirements.
Научното съобщение е прочетено на годишната среща на The Gypsy Lore Society,
проведена в Грац, Австрия, 1-3 септември 2011 г.