The whole idea of having to sell and buy girls and women is of course completely unacceptable from a politically correct standpoint. Nonetheless, the Brides’ Fair at Mogila rarely leads to an”deal that is actual of the type. It really is however extremely colourful, a complete large amount of enjoyable and a must-see for visitors and residents of southern Bulgaria.
The young Gypsy girls choose Western-style clothing
Every Todorovden, or St Todor’s Day, Gypsies through the Kalaydzhii clan collect from the football that is muddy associated with the town of Mogila, near Stara Zagora. Extended families arrive from all over in ramshackle automobiles which range from horse-drawn carts to.
A lot of them started to meet buddies and family relations. The Kalaydzhii are itinerant craftsmen who reside in little, crowded communities within the villages around Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Karnobat, and invest the hot months travelling all over country interested in trade. They hold two primary gatherings a year – on 15 August, the feast regarding the presumption, near Bachkovo Monastery, as well as the Brides’ Fair on Todorovden, a moveable feast from the Saturday that is first of.
Moustached and dressed up in their conventional three-piece suits, bowler caps or fabric caps on the minds, the old men to use tables near the shining barbecues where sweaty vendors grill kebapcheta, chatting with buddies and beer that is drinking. Their wives munch sunflower seeds and gossip with loved ones, whilst the children set you back and fro with cheeks pink from candyfloss and hands sticky from toffee oranges.
The attire that is traditional kept for their grandmothers
The Brides’ Fair, nevertheless, is more than simply a grouped community get-together. The Kalaydzhii, like the majority of Gypsy clans in Bulgaria, choose marriages to occur between people in the team. Their vagabond (no pun meant) lives, but, allow it to be hard for young adults to satisfy a partner, ergo the fair – a huge, colourful, crowded conference of “available” girls and teenage boys.
Objectives are high. The males’ families have actually arrived at find a new, stunning, hard-working, obedient and bride that is preferably virgin. Girls’ families have actually appeared to show as you’re watching whole community exactly how young, gorgeous, hard-working, obedient and – of course! – virtuous their daughters and grand-daughters are, and also to find for them a lad that is decent ideally with a small business of his very own.
Teenage boys in new jeans and hoodies or inside their track suits that are best, that are extremely popular now in the united states whatever the ethnicity of these wearers, stroll all over pitch in little packages. They scan the girls, trade reviews to their appearance and do their better to look cool, strutting like roosters prepared for the fight and sunflower that is spitting with hauteur, as though they owned the planet.
Girls and their tsdates own families are more remarkable.
Gypsies from all colors and hues give consideration to beauty to consist of reasonable epidermis, red cheeks and blue eyes, together with girls in the reasonable try everything feasible to appear their utmost. Instantly on arrival, they placed on their makeup products of hefty eyeliner and a layer that is thick of powder. Bold sectors of red lipstick on the cheeks finalize the appearance.
A few distinctive Gypsy clans reside in Bulgaria. Kalaydzhii make residing as itinerant tinkers and cattle dealers
All of the brides-to-be look shyly, aside from the rich people who’re more ample to be able to showcase their gold teeth, a vintage Roma icon of success, often used onto healthier teeth. Girls try to avoid conversing with strangers and not talk about the information on a marriage that is possible. This task is kept in the possession of of their grandmothers, the negotiators that are official the bride company. Brief and squat, older people women can be clad within the old-fashioned gown regarding the Kalaydzhii – vivid green, red or blue velvet skirts and white headscarves with red plants. The older generation nevertheless wears this attire even yet in every day life and, until recently, girls at it was worn by the Fair, too. But times are changing, even yet in this conservative community, now lots of the future brides dress like aspiring chalga divas, miniskirts and backcombed locks included.