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Accepted Paper:
Symbolic revitalization of the villages flooded by reservoirs
Mariyanka Borisova
(Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
Paper short abstract:
A number of large reservoirs were built in Bulgaria during the socialism. As a result at least forty villages in the valleys were destroyed and flooded. The population settled mainly in nearby cities. The paper deals with the mechanisms by which the flooded villages are symbolically revitalized.
Paper long abstract:
A number of large reservoirs were built in Bulgaria during the socialist period, as a result of which at least forty villages in the valleys were destroyed, obliterated and flooded. The cultural landscape has changed. The population settled mainly in nearby cities. This forced migration to the city completely changed the livelihood and lifestyle of the former villagers. The paper deals with relocated people’s memory and the mechanisms by which the flooded villages are symbolically revitalized. The annual meetings (feasts) of relocated people and their descendants on the shore of the reservoir; cultural practices (weddings, liturgies, movies, events, restorations) near the ruins of churches in obliterated villages; the toponyms from the flooded villages “transfered” to the new localities; the creation of products marked with the name of the flooded village are part of present-day cultural practices, which maintain the memory of the flooded villages. The study has been carried out within the research project “Submerged Heritage. A Village on the Reservoir’s Bottom: Migrations, Memory, Cultural Practices” (Bulgarian National Sciences Fund; 2018-2022).