Iskrica 1

Iskrica1.latest.mp3

Commentary on the text:

When the investigator’s words are transcribed in brackets, it means they do not appear on the audio but are rather reconstructed to recreate the sense of the original conversation. These words appear in English translation only in Glossed View, in both English and Bulgarian in Line View, and in Bulgarian only in Cyrillic Line View

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Iskrica 1

1 (a) [0:00] When I married, I came here. My mother-in-law was a hard worker.

2 (a) [0:06] When I got up in the morning she had made banitsa, and had even baked it already

3 (a) [0:09] and had eaten. I was ashamed [even] to reach out

4 (a) [0:12] and take [something] to eat. I said: “[Here I was] lying [in bed] while she made it

5 (a) [0:15] and baked it, and then I [just] get up to eat it." [That’s what] I said.

6 (KK) Hm.

7 (a) [0:21] And so on. We got on, because I’d been alone, you know –

8 (a) [0:25] They were very solicitous for me. I sang a lot,

9 (a) [0:29] and they were very happy. [My husband] was in the military, and for three years

10 (a) [0:34] I lived with them, and nobody said a word to me.

11 (KK) You understood each other.

12 (a) [0:41] We understood one another. Well, my parents-in-law had nobody else

13 (a) [0:44] to [talk] to. I was [the only one] near them. Then the collective farms were set up,

14 (a) [0:48] and we went to work there with five or six neighbors. I went with them.

15 (a) [0:54] I was like a child to them. The bride brings [them] water, the bride’s gone for water.

16 (a) [1:00] We respected one another, and were happy like that, all of us together.

17 (a) [1:05] And so on. Later on I made a family – children:

18 (a) [1:13] My boy isn’t married, but the girl got married,

19 (a) [1:16] and she has two children.

20 (KK) [Tell me about your wedding.]

21 (a) [1:21] When I got to be of marriageable age, my [future] husband came

22 (a) [1:26] to the village to seek me [in marriage], and they came –

23 (a) [1:23] at that time they sent matchmakers, two or three people would come

24 (a) [1:37] to persuade the father and the daughter. A girl who is willing –

25 (a) [1:41] she’ll elope, run off without telling her mother or her father.

26 (a) [1:45] But a girl who didn’t want it like that, would listen to what they told her.

27 (a) [1:51] And when we decided we’d get married, those from the village came here in the evening.

28 (a) [1:57] They came to us [where] ours had prepared snacks and bread (there weren’t ovens then).

29 (a) [2:04] And I had prepared my clothing, because I’m going to be a bride.

30 (a) [2:10] The [future] in-laws came, and brought seven or eight gold pieces on a feather –

31 (a) [2:16] it was either a bouquet or a feather, how should I know –

32 (a) [2:19] and asked me, “Do you want him?”. “I want him”. Then they asked him as well,

33 (a) [2:25] and he said, “If I hadn’t wanted her, I wouldn’t have come.”

34 (a) [2:29] So OK, let’s go, congratulate the [new] in-laws, shake the hand of one of them.

35 (a) [2:33] They congratulate us too, and sit down. Now we’re married, and then they set out

36 (a) [3:39] the food for supper. People eat and make noise, because the bride is now married.

37 (KK) And you come here.

38 (a) [2:50] And I was there too, but earlier on they didn’t come [to the new home yet],

39 (a) [2:53] not even when they celebrated the wedding. I had an aunt, for two months I went

40 (a) [3:00] [places] with her. She didn’t come to sleep at our house, they didn’t want her.

41 (a) [3:04] [So] even when they celebrate the wedding, it’s the next evening after the wedding.

42 (a) [3:07] In my case, they married me in the evening, but only brought me here the next afternoon.

43 (a) [3:13] In my time they didn’t do such things any more.

44 (a) [3:18] And then, when they decide on a wedding, they fix the betrothal.

45 (a) [3:25] They go and get the bride’s clothing. Back then there weren’t trucks and such.

46 (a) [3:32] They come with carriages to take [her] clothing; [then] they spread it out here

47 (a) [3:38] and [everyone] looks to see how much dowry the bride has.

48 (KK) [What did they do on the day before the wedding?]

49 (a) [3:41] The betrothal is Saturday. In the evening is the shaving [of the groom]. The next morning

50 (a) [3:49] they dance again. I forget whether they did this for me,

51 (a) [3:53] but I remember [the custom]; it’s called the honeycake. They lay out 2-3 ritual buns.

52 (a) [4:00] There’s a festive table. They dance again, by these buns and honeycakes, and then –

53 (a) [4:05] We don't have a church here in the village, they [have to] call in a priest,

54 (a) [4:10] he was from another village. He comes, and marries us here in the house.

55 (a) [4:15] And they set up the festive table outside, where they’ve invited [guests],

56 (a) [4:18] and people sit there, they eat and dance. Like at a wedding!

57 (KK) And the – the shaving? How was that done?

58 (a) [4:27] Well, they dance again when they shave the groom, they perform the custom.

59 (a) [4:31] Then they start to dance, and dance until they drop, until it gets dark.

60 (KK) Tell me exactly what the shaving consisted of.

61 (a) [4:40] The shaving – they shave the groom. They pour water to wash him, and the dance starts.

62 (a) [4:47] The music starts to play dance tunes, and they start to dance the round dance,

63 (a) [4:50] and that’s the shaving. It’s part of the overall [goal], to be joyous.

64 (a) [4:54] You [do some of] this and [some of] that, so as to make this happen.

65 (KK) [What do you do during the week after the wedding?]

66 (a) [5:00] By Wednesday – we wear the veil on Monday, we wear it on Tuesday. On Wednesday

67 (a) [5:07] the godfather is supposed to come in the morning to remove the veil. The best man [comes]

68 (a) [5:13] and the one who is the groom’s “little bug” brings a distaff filled with wool

69 (a) [5:18] and a spindle. She spins up the wool for the best man, she spins for the bride,

70 (a) [5:24] and he gives her the distaff. And when Friday comes,

71 (a) [5:30] we go on Friday evening to what they call the ritual visit.

72 (a) [5:35] The mother-in-law again kneads up a ritual bun. As for the rest, I’ve forgotten

73 (a) [5:39] where it all was. And we go to tell my people on Saturday evening