Bulgarian National Identity Essay

Bulgarian National Identity 

Dana Webber 

UCOR 1400 Eurovision

Dr. Green

February 9th, 2021 

         National identity is the idea that one belongs to a nation or state not because of citizenship, but because of shared values. This idea includes cuisine, music, languages, symbols, and history. The history behind a nation plays a factor in the process of identity. When a nation endures a threat, whether it be cultural, militant, economic or political, the nation becomes closer and the identity becomes stronger. (“What Is The Meaning of National Identity?” Anonymous.) National identity is shown through it’s “significant other(s).” Triandafyllidou (1998) defines significant others as “other nations or ethnic groups that are perceived as a threat to the nation, it’s distinctiveness, authenticity and/or independence.”(pg. 594.) Using both of these criteria, national identity can thrive, and become a vessel for nation pride, independence, even conflict.

         Bulgaria’s quest for their national identity was messy. They endured hundreds of changes on the way. Under the oppression from the Ottoman Empire, their culture was on pause, so the identity of Bulgaria is fairly young. In the Balkan region of Southern Europe, the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War One saw the emergence of independent states. Bulgaria had claimed independence in 1908 before WWI, during the war they saw themselves ally with Germany. After WWI Bulgaria was invaded by the Soviets and pronounced a Communist state; years later they eventually declared themselves a Socialist Party. Once the party finally fell, the Bulgarians created a new constitution, and at last, they declared themselves a parliamentary republic (BBC 2018.) Throughout these changes, Bulgaria still fought their way towards a personal, national identity.

Bulgarian’s have a rich history and culture, but one that was smothered over by years of oppression from the Ottoman Empire. While yearning for independence, the Bulgarians dove into their history to pull courage and unity out from old folklore and traditions, to motivate them to shape their new identity. The “Haidouk” folk songs were extremely popular while Bulgaria fought for independence. These books were all about “the heroes who hid in the mountains and formed a band of guerilla fighters.” They used these old tails to revitalize their national pride, and identity. Quoted from Bulgarian Identity and Folklore, 2016, (n.d.)

“In fact everyday life is dominated by the folklore traditions because they are regarded as a system of values, norms, texts, patterns and technologies. According to William R Bascom, ethnomusicologist, folklore serves to sanction and validate religious, social, political and economic institutions and plays an important role as an educative device in its transmission from one generation to another.” (paras 6-7). 

Such values include traditional songs for the harvest and holidays, but other songs represent the individuality of Bulgaria, and inspire the national feeling to continue. These Bulgarian songs also were unique in the way they contrasted with songs from other Balkan states. The music was rhythmically different and the vocals were much richer. What makes their culture such a vital role in their identity, is that it kept the national Bulgarian feeling alive while it suffered from oppression for over 500 years.  It is clear that the old values are still as relevant to Bulgaria as they used to be, as they play a big role in the way Bulgaria shaped its national identity and achieved its singularity.

Language is a part of Bulgaria's identity that makes it so pronounced compared to the other Balkans. In the 9th century, the Bulgarian’s replaced the old Glagolitic alphabet with the new Cyrillic one. This alphabet was written and spoken by the Russians, Serbians, and the Romanians for centuries after. They were way more ahead than other countries for centuries. Having a common written and spoken language was rare for any nation at the time. This fact clearly established the first pieces of national identity and pride that the Bulgarians faced. Because of this, much of the assimilation that internal others suffered included switching languages to Bulgarian. This was used as a means to gain power and control, while creating the image of a united union. (History of Bulgaria, 2013, n.d.)

      Triandafyllidou described “significant others'' as a threat to a united country. While Bulgaria has maintained relatively amicable relationships with most countries, it’s “internal others'' are where they find their threats.’ Triandafyllidou defines internal others as “may be an ethnic minority or immigrant community” (pg 600.) Conflicts between the Turks and the Romas (who only make up 13.1% of the total ethnic population) have been the face of this. (Boneva, 1995, paras 2-3.)  The relationship between the ethnic groups is complicated, as it can be an individual process to identify with a nation. Turks and Muslims have said that Turkish is their “Mother-language” (Boneva, 1995.) Romas also land between the lines as only 3% consider Bulgarian their main language, most of them fall under several languages. Because of this, Bulgarians saw the minority groups as outsiders. Bulgarians wanted to exclude the minorities so much that they had the Quran translated and only available in Bulgarian. (Boneva 1995) called this “cultural homogenization” which she identified as “depriving an ethnic group of its very symbols of group identity” (para 10.)  This goes along with Triandafyllidou’s explanation of “othering,” in her definition excerpted from “The Ethnic Revival in the Modern World” by Anthony Smith in 1991. He states, “Moreover, individuals who are nationaless cannot fully realize themselves and, furthermore in the world of nations, they are social outcasts. Bulgrians made the Turks and Romas outcasts as their way of dealing with their significant others. 

Along with culture, ethic groups, and language, there is another final factor that goes into the national identity of Bulgaria, but also separates it from any other state. That factor is Religion. Beacuse of the Ottoman Empire, Islam was the leading religion for hundredes of years. When Bulgaria became independent, it converted to Easten Orthodox Christaianity, with over 85% of the Bulgarian population also identified as such. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church itself was crucial for the Bulgarian identity, it secured Bulgarian Christianity and values during the Ottoman Empire regime. The Communist regime however, separated the church and the state, once again oppressing the ideals of the Bulgarians. The Post-communist regime however, saw something different. 

Daniela Kalkandjieva noted in her article, “Religion and Forced Placement”, because the Orthodox Church had such a great impact, Bulgaria passed “‘The Religious Denominations Act’ which emphasised ‘the special and traditional role of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC) in the history of Bulgaria to establish and develop its spirituality and culture’ in its preamble.”(2002 Religious Denominations Act, Article 10.1). The BOC regained control of the state, and had a savior-esque threshold about it. They stopped immigrants from coming into Bulgaria as they saw them as a threat to their national identity and independence. The BOC symbolized the face of Bulgaria, as it invested itself into public affairs like domestic violence. The church was seen as a centerpiece on the table of identity, it held its ground, and demanded Bulgarian attitudes and values. (Kalkandjieva, 2021.)

All these points come together to create the strong basis of Bulgaria’s national identity. They used their old culture to rebuild the values and beliefs into a new nation; one that wasn’t oppressed. The evolution of their language was another powerful factor in deeming themselves as individuals. They created an alphabet, and had one of the first common languages, which set them apart from any other nation at the time. They also use their religion as a way to differentiate themselves against any other group, and embrace that as a natural value of being Bulgarian. Because of this, they established “others” in their community, region, continent of the world. Those that may be threats to their unique livelihood and values. They use all of these to contrast themselves from anywhere else, because that’s the point of national identity, belonging to a unique nation.  

Word count: 1308

REFERENCES

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