How much of the Bulgarian cultural heritage in Ukraine has been preserved remains unclear

The process of its digitization is slow and without specific data on the different ethnic groups in the country

published on 11/15/24 12:00 PM

Photo: BTA archive

The usurpation of cultural heritage is one of the many inevitable consequences of any military conflict, both historically and today. Until the end of the war in Ukraine, it is impossible to adequately analyse the extent of the damage caused to the country's cultural institutions and to assess the loss of artistic and archaeological artefacts from the treasuries of the various museums and galleries.

The UN estimates that the loss of Ukrainian cultural heritage and historical sites since the beginning of the war amounts to over 3.5 billion dollars. According to 2023 data, the population of Ukraine is 37 million people. Part of it are Belarusians, Crimean Tatars, Georgians, Gagauz, Romanians, Hungarians, Poles, Armenians, Jews, Bessarabian Bulgarians and others, and each of these communities has its own culture and traditions, which it observes and honors freely.

The war, of course, greatly limited the families' opportunities to be together and to devote their time peacefully to traditions. And yet, their attempts continue, because - in the words of Galin Georgiev, chairman of the Society for relations with Bessarabian and Tavrian Bulgarians "Rodolyubets", Bessarabian Bulgarians consider these traditions to be part of themselves and are extremely strongly connected to them. He gives the example of the Saint George's Day custom in the region of Chushmeliy (southern Ukraine), but specifies that this also applies to other church holidays and those of the folk calendar.

The unknown history of Bulgarians in Tavria

"The Bessarabian tradition for St. George's Day is connected with taking the roast lamb out into the yard or the street. In many regions of Bulgaria the same thing happened. But alas, now in Ukraine this is impossible because of the curfew and other restrictions that prevent people from gathering together. And the tradition related to Saint George's Day there is unique, as it has been preserved almost as it was carried over from the settlements in the so-called "provadiyski sart", an area in Bulgaria, around the town of Provadia, where a very interesting old dialect has been preserved, very close to the Old Bulgarian speech. Only in Chushmeliy in Bessarabia they are preserved both as a dialect and as a cultural tradition."

During a discussion in Sofia, dedicated to the Bulgarian cultural heritage in Ukraine and the ways for its preservation, within the framework of the festival "Eye", Georgiev drew attention to another particularly important issue for the Bulgarian community in the country:

"Ivan Plachkov (former Minister of Energy of Ukraine and former Governor of Odessa - author's note) approached me and our society "Rodolyubets" with a request to think about how to revive the Bulgarian culture in the region. I asked him, how in the conditions of war to think about organizing fairs and festivals? However, it was important for him that people there continue to speak more in Bulgarian. At the moment the language they speak at home is Bulgarian, but the dominant society in the country is Ukrainian, whose language should be known. So their own language recedes to the background.

Now, with the war, this is even more of a trend, people are starting to speak to others in Russian or Ukrainian. I think that Bulgaria should help a lot in this situation, because the ancestral homeland is a very important thing in the minds of these people. They have imagined this abandoned land as a promised land to which they will one day return."

Despite ongoing hostilities in the country, Ukraine is working to digitise its cultural and historical heritage. The traditions and customs observed by the various ethnic groups there are also part of this. The process, which is being handled by the Central State Audiovisual Electronic Archive, is too slow, requires funds and necessary equipment, and it is not possible to determine the pace of its progress. Therefore, there is no concrete answer to the question of how much of the Bulgarian cultural heritage in the country has been preserved for posterity.

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