Today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms will be presented in Bulgarian, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Aulacese (Vietnamese), (Bulgarian,) Chinese, (Bulgarian,) Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish and Thai.

Greetings, delightful viewers. Welcome to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. Today, we’ll invite you to explore the beauty of Bulgarian ethnic costume – a rare gem in European folk culture. Bulgarian traditional clothing is known for its natural and vibrant designs, exquisite embellishments, and geographically distinct subtleties.

Our wonderful culture guide today is Ms. Zoya Mikova, Assistant Professor of Musical Folklore at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Plovdiv. She was a co-founder of the folk-music group “Elika,” which performed within the nation and abroad. Ms. Mikova also published a folksong collection as well as orchestrated a fashion show entitled “The Costume in the Different Folk Districts of Bulgaria.”

The costume today is an article of clothing that people put on when they recreate a part of the folklore.

The shirt is the element of the costume that is present in all of our clothes. It is worn underneath in most costumes. For women, a tunic or “saya” is put on above. An apron, which is not obligatory for all the costumes, is worn over the tunic; there may be a belt or buckles that are already a part of the accessories.

Ms. Mikova shares with us the traditional dresses found in various parts of the country.

Let me begin from Thrace. What is typical for women is the prevailing tunic-type clothes. The clothes contain a shirt, a tunic that may be in different colors, with stockings and of course on the head different things are worn, according to the social status. On the feet, some people may wear simple sandals. In more modern times, they begin to wear shoes more often.

As for men, the costume in Thrace consists of a shirt, brown full-bottomed, tight-legged breeches, with a red waistband, and according to the season there may be a sleeveless jacket or another upper cloth, and a brown or black cap for the head.

In the Rhodopes, the male costume is very similar. What probably is more specific for women is the black tunic, the rich lace on the sleeves, the embroidery on the bosom, the specific apron, which is in orange, yellow and green tones that are also striped.

As one moves from the historical southern Thrace region to the northern Balkan mountain range, traditional dresses adopt different styles.

In mid-north and northeast of Bulgaria, the costume is that of so-called double apron type. It consists of a shirt and a long, very gathered skirt.

Usually it’s in black or red tones and with a front straight apron, which has more geometrical elements or is striped. There are also colorful stockings, shoes or sandals, and for the head, according to the position, the respective accessory or a head-cloth. The shirt is very gathered. It is called “barchanka,” with very wide sleeves, influenced by Romanian villages that border with the Danube and it is abundantly decorated at the bosom and on the sleeves.

As for Dobrudzha, for the women the tunic-type clothing is characteristic. The tunic may be very close to that of Thrace because Dobrudzha has many settlers from Thrace. What is more specific, except for the shirt and the tunic that are obligatory, is the head-cloth and the specific type of covering of the head under the chin. Usually it is in yellow, with many fringes that fall over the bosom.

More interesting is perhaps the region of Razgrad for the Kapantsi population. There is a specific accessory for the head that has the form of a hair comb.

What is popular for the men in mid-north and northeast Bulgaria is the broad pants that may be white or dark blue in color. It’s not even required that they reach to the ground; they may be a little bit over the ankles. There’s also a shirt that is sometimes over the trousers and may be tucked into the waistband. There is of course an upper cloth according to the season. The same is true in particular for the clothes from northwest Bulgaria, the type with double apron for women and the broad pants for men.

The closer we get to the Balkans from the Danube, to Balkan Mountains to, for example, Turnovo and Gabrovo, there are clothes to be found that are similar to Thrace’s male type. In Graovo, the popular “litak” can be found. There is no shirt underneath. It’s a tunic without sleeves, abundantly decorated by sequins on the bosom and below at the skirt.

Before it was white and with time it became only black, decorated abundantly with these gold sequins and beads.

In western Bulgaria, aprons are not part of the tradition.

In western Bulgaria, another type of clothes can also be found: a blue tunic which is decorated with white braids. There is no apron here. There is a broad shirt which is under the tunic and is abundantly decorated at the sleeves and at the bosom. At the border areas of western Bulgaria toward Ihtiman, colorful tunics could be in black, dark blue, dark green, with a shirt underneath, which is decorated only at the bosom, because the tunics here are with sleeves either to the elbows or longer, with colorful aprons.

All kinds of hair accessories abound in western Bulgaria. They are called kosichnitsi, flower adornments. In western Bulgaria, in the male clothing, the white type clothes prevail: white full-bottomed tight-legged breeches, a shirt abundantly decorated, and a waistband that may be red or blue, with white caps.

In the region of the spectacular Pirin National Park, the beautiful sayas are a signature of the Pirin Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria.

In the village area of Pirin, there are very heavy silver buckles as accessories. According to the season, these may be in different colors, from white to black. For the men, there are white clothes with white full-bottomed tight-legged breeches and they wear short skirts over the trousers. The red waistband is twined above them.

We will be back with more on the charming traditional costumes of Bulgaria. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. For hundreds of years, Bulgarians have cherished and enriched their traditions in designing and making folk costumes.

How were they produced? Only manually in looms, they sew them by hand. At a working bee for instance, they may help the housewife to embroider the trousseau of the future bride. Everyone helps however she can.

A big part of the clothes were produced by women. Everything else that is the work of the coppersmith, of the goldsmith, we speak about accessories, are produced by men.

Many costumes are made to be worn during special holidays, and they are connected to time-honored traditions.

The people that have participated in the different customs and rituals have had traditional costumes. Such are the Christmas costumes, the costumes for the St. Lazar’s Day; for Easter they also have prepared some of their best clothes.

On Saint Petka’s Day, the maidens put on their first new clothes because that’s when the first round dance is performed and as the saying goes, it is the day when the mother-in-laws choose their future daughter-in-laws. So this is an example of a culturally meaningful role of the costume. Because the richer and more decorated the costume is, the more it shows the dexterity of the maiden who has made it to present to her future mother-in-law.

The various elements of costumes are associated with special meanings, signifying the wearer’s social status, personality, and lifestyle.

With women, even the hair style reveals a position and social status. For instance, a woman, when she was still a maiden, plaited herself in one plait because she was single. When she became engaged, she must plait in two plaits, because, as people say, she had found her partner in life. The head-cloth is an element of the costume of the married woman. For the girls, they usually used different sequins, coins, “kosichnitsi,” which are different elements and accessories for hair, and abundantly decorated with flowers, with different bunches, from one side of the hair, or behind.

With older women, the head-cloth varies in different colors, again, depending on the season. The white head-cloths are worn in summer and the colorful ones in autumn and spring.

Apart from adapting to seasonal changes, the colors of the clothing carry special significance.

Which are the characteristic colors and what do they symbolize?

Mostly as decorations, the red color is used. In some costumes yellow and green are used. Red has a great role as a symbolism in Bulgarian folklore, as well as yellow. Yellow is a symbol of the sun, of life; green, of the grass, of the spring, especially of that which is connected with the new beginning, with the rebirth of the Earth for life.

We are accustomed to connecting the white color, for instance, with the human soul, and red with the body. An example is our “martenitsa,” which contains the white and red color as a symbol of the soul and body and the unbreakable connection between both of them.

The representations of various animals have been integrated into the embellishments of garments.

Many ornaments, that are similar to animals, to birds, usually the bird and the hen, are presented as a symbol of life. Also the peacock, it is present not only as an element in the clothing, but in many songs also. The pigeon is also present as an ornament – a symbol of love.

In Bulgarian costumes, a lot of braids are used, a lot of spiral elements, a lot of ornaments that resemble snails. First, they symbolize infinity, because it is a motif without beginning, without end. It is a symbol of eternity. And the geometrical figures are symbol of a little bit more rational thinking.

Generally almost everything is concentrated between the Earth and the heavenly bodies; the world as the people have perceived themselves and the world around them.

Bulgarian folk costume is a priceless heritage from a harmonious civilization. It is reminiscent of the dignity, virtues, and simple joy, among other beautiful inner qualities of humans. As Ms. Zoya Mikova graciously summarizes:

So I think the messages are for a better world, about prosperity of the soul, about a better time, yes.

Our many thanks, Ms. Zoya Mikova, for sharing your wealth of expertise on the colorful traditional costumes of Bulgaria. We wish you and your fellow life-loving Bulgarians a continued development of your beautiful culture on a balanced and sustainable Earth.

Confident viewers, thank you for being with us today on A Journey through Aesthetic Realms.

Up next on Supreme Master Television is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. May loving kindness be extended to all Earth inhabitants, humans and animals alike.