Rural Customs in Bulgaria.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4942, 15 February 1895, Page 3

Rural Customs in Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria, the men, women and oliildven all work in the iields, in : planting or in harvesting, mothers often carrying their babies on their hacks several miles from home to ] their work Arriving at the lield, 1 the baby is laid under a tree, or, if necessary, the mother can improvise a hammock with three sticks and a grfout blanket, and swing up the 1 Jlifant after the manner of a gipsy 1 kettle, arranging her apron as a screen upon the sunny side ( The village house is simple indeed —built upon a basket work, only ulie story, made of small sticks or scantling, and plastered within and . without with common mud, mixed with chopped hay or straw. If the builder is able he then covers this foundation coat with one of lime or white earth, giving it a much more tidy appearance. The floors are often niado of mud, but when dry arc very hard, and much neater than one who has never seen them would suppose possible. Often the whole family sleep in the one room, upon blankets or mattresses spread upon the floor at night, and folded up during the day, and many of them never think of undressing. The queer little tables used in these homes are three or four feet across, and six inches high. Just imagine yourself a guest at one of them! You are invited to seat yourself, and <lo to, more or less gracefully, according to the amount of practice you fy have, had, cross-legged upou floor, getting as near the table possible. One central dish of Boup or meat, and forks are placed the table, also a loaf of black bread, unless it has been laid in some other convenient place. The hostess gives you a napkin, and the host takes a knife from his girdle, and cuts a slice of bread for each one present. This is dipped piece by piece into the chief dish of the meal, and eaten as heartily as may he. Often the meat is too hot with red pepper, and too oily to suit a, foreign taste, The people are romarkable for their hospitality, The dress of the peasant is so varied that it in impossible to describe it briefly. Each village has its own peculiarities in dress, and often quaint and picturesque costumes are seen, The women spin, knit, and weave tho fabrics, and are the 6ole manufacturers of tho simple, coarse raiment of the family; and Bwomen8 women may be known to belong kis or that village by the colour the woollen apron, wbicli is always worn, The life of these villagers is from childhood rougher than most of us can picture, Little children, dirty and ragged) are daily wn in winter, leading the beasts of burden to market with wood, hay, or other prqduce—objects of pity to bring tears to our eyes and a heavy heartache whenever ,wo meet them, and pre thus brought face to face with their .apparently joyless and comfortless » lives, ' •"