Kardzhali Life - PHOTO

Beautiful winter photos - Kardzhali

2012-01-28T07:23:00.000-08:00

Regional historical museum (video)

2011-05-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

The regional historical museum is located in a big,beautiful three-storey building – a monument of culture itself. It was a school building and was specially reconstructed for the needs of the museum. It was constructed in the beginning of the last century as a project of a Russian architect. The museum aims at research, preservation and popularization of the heritage and culture of local people.Additionally it works for the excavation, restoration and conservation of the archeological sites in the region and the scientific studies connected with them. The exhibition covers an area of 1200 m2 and is divided into three sections: Archeology, Nature and Ethnography. The spacious foyers and corridors often host various exhibitions from the country or temporary exhibitions at the end of the excavations season in order to introduce the latest archeological finds.
In the yard of the museum could be seen many rare species of shrubs and trees not typical for the local flora.

Astronomical observatory

2011-05-03T05:55:00.000-07:00

The Astronomical observatory was built in the late
70 years of the 20th century.
It possesses the 150 mm. refractor and other smaller
telescopes. There is an opportunity for observations
of various space objects.
It is located in park “Prostor”.

Water mirror on Arda river(video)

2011-05-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

An impressive channel on Arda river was built in
the town area in 2009. It starts about 300m after the
wall of dam “Karzdhali” and reaches the bridge to
Veselchane quarter almost reaching the zero level of
“Studen kladenec” dam. The construction is a massive
contemporary water-engineering facility part of
a project for the public utilities development in that
part of the town. The project also includes the creation
of a rest zone along the river and a business centre
in the same area. Attractive boats and small tourist
vessels will sail along the channel.

The wall of Dam Kardzhali

2011-05-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

The dam wall is located around 1.5km from the last houses of Vazrozhdenci quarter of Kardzhali. It was built in the period 1957 – 1963 and is a unique forits time hollow arch-shaped construction. It is 103m high and 341m long. The dam lake is 20km long with volume of 532 million m3. A water power plant is built under the wall with average yearly power output of 164 million kWh.

The stone mushrooms (video)

2011-05-03T05:01:00.001-07:00

Those rock formations are located east of Beli plast village by the road connecting Kardzhali with Haskovo. To preserve them in 1974, they were designated as a natural monument with area of 30 decares. They area harmonic rock pieces resembling gigantic
mushrooms with pink stumps and greenish hoods shaped in rhyolithic volcanic tuffa. The height of the stumps and width of the hoods reaches up to 2.5m. The variable coloring of the mushrooms results from the different mineral inclusions. It took millions years continuous sun, wind and rain to shape that wonderful
composition. A legend says that these rocks are the chopped heads of four sisters, who refused to obey a tyrannical master.

Is it a crime to be Pomak? (video)

2009-11-12T04:05:00.000-08:00

When the baby is born as every family and their first task is to they give a name him.Yes, it is easy if you know your nationality and religion. To the Pomaks this is one of the most difficult things. They give a name to the baby at the hospital the Christian name. But when they come at home, the baby gets and the other name –Muslim name. Every Pomak has got two names. In the documents is the Christian and among the members of family Muslim name. The life of the young Pomaks is many difficult because of this reason. They don’t know how to call themselves and their religion. The Pomaks celebrate the Muslim and Christian feasts. When you ask one pomak to his name he will answer you according to your nationality. If you are Bulgarian for you his answer will be Christian name. But if you are Turks he will tell you his Muslim name.
So I once asked a boy six years old from Drangovo ( Kardzhali village) who is Pomak. His answer was Ismet (Muslim name). Then I asked him if he had other name. Yes, of course, he had the Christian name-Peter. He told me that at home everyone calls him Ismet but at the school the teacher and his friends as when they go to the near town his parents call him Peter.The boy was confused, he didn’t why he has two names. Then he asked me if I have got two names. My answer was “No, I haven’t got.” He pondered over it and went to home to ask his parents. The boy didn’t know the answer but the adults knew.
Young Pomaks felt ashamed of that fact. Marriage is the determining factor. If they marry a Christian, define their religion as Christian, and if they marry their Muslim religion is now Muslim. But when marriage is between them, so the problem goes to the grave.
Who buries The Pomaks?
On this day Pomaks instead of mourning the death of his neighbor. They think what they will do if the priest or imam refuses to perform the bury rite. If one of The Pomaks is with the Christian name ,the imam refuses to bury him. Yes, but the priest also refuses to bury under the pretext that the pomaks aren’t Christians.
Recently a friend of mine died of Pomaks, who always said that he is a Christian and he wants to bury him priest. His relatives put on a suit him (like Christians) and they went to the priest, but he categorically refused to bury him. Then they went to the imam. But he also refused, because Muslims are not buried in a suit. After many requests, he agreed. He performed the funeral rite only in that case was a dead man suit.
This is the life of Pomaks. Throughout his life The Pomaks wonder what they are. Sometimes they are ashamed and other time they feel sad. They ask themselves: Is it a crime to be Pomak?
Pomak girl

Pomak wedding

Pomak wedding

Touch this fascinating bear, and you!

2009-10-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

Everyone who passes through the public park shows interesting to the sculpture of the bear. It stands thoughtful, serious and at the same times lovely and kind. Hardly someone has passed without touch it. Kids and adults take a photo with it. During day it rejoices in kids ’smiles and at night listen bird’s songs. If you visit this city one-day, don’t go without take a photo with it.

Caricature adventures of a Kardzhali journalist

2009-10-27T00:41:00.000-07:00

Toward the end of 1992 year I boarded plane with my documents proving out that I am a scholarship student from an airfield Istanbul for Baku, the capital of the former Soviet Republic Azerbaijan. There I had taken in the State University for foreign languages.I was excited from the coming changes in my life. I had great and rather vague expectations. The first disappointment met me on the international airfield of Baku. At time of the communist regime at our place The Soviet Union was painted in bright colours. But here, in the capital of one from its republics (although then it was former republic already) and at exactly to its international airfield the beautiful picture, which has represented consciously by the regime in Bulgaria, evaporated instantly.The international airfield was a building, which looked like more of some village bus stations. Neglected, everywhere flying junk and full chaos in the traffic by personnel, passengers and luggage.After some hours quest for my luggage I succeeded to find it and to get into one old car ‘ Moskvich ‘ which I went to the city. The Azerbaijan language is Turkic. It is closer to the Turkish language, which the Turks speak in Kardjali than literary Turkish. Exactly for that I succeeded to make a bargain with the taxi driver for 2000 roubles (then about 2 dollars).While I was trying to understand from where we pass I noticed that the taxi driver has got many golden teeth. Later I understood that the number for the golden incisors isn’t sign for social position. Sooner they believed that the gold purges away them.

Already I am in Baku, where I will spend six years of my life.

I rented a flat next to the underground “20th January”. It turned out that I have come opposite the American embassy. At first sight the measures for the security diidn’t focus attention but the adjusted armoured cars for city circumstances, dozens of cameras and fence resembling to the castle wall everything this wouldn’t be hide. It was 1992 year, in that part of the world, and especially in Caucasus there was chaos. The transition period from the Soviet republic to independent Azerbaijan has just begun. The country was in military conflict with Armenia for the autonomous area Nagorno-Karabakh. Hundreds of families had forced to run away from there and to seek refuge in the capital. While the Azerbaijan was at war with Armenia for Karabakh, the reconnaissance systems of the neighbour countries Iran, Turkey, Russia and also the western countries made “ plays on the silent front “ between themselves in the country. The political passion of the Azrbaijanis often turned into attempts for military coup. From time to time someone came to the fore and said that he has announced autonomous republic in some part of the country. By one such situation in the country, after the former secretary- general of the Soviet Azerbaijan and the general from KGB Haydar Ali sat on the presidential chair with coup d’etat again, in Baku had declared commandant time. To 3 000 000 habitants of the city, except the deputies of the forces for security had forbidden to go to the street from 7 p. m. to 7 a.m. Against non-observance of commandant time could shoot on sight. At day I was in the University on lectures and before 7p.m. I had to be in my lodging. In this time there wasn’t the Net, there weren’t satellite televisions and mobile phones. The TV channels were two – the one was the state Azerbaijan and the other the Russian channel – “ORT”.

In the small bachelor’s rooms the commandant time pushed me to my claustrophobia more. In order to I run away from it and to don’t “make friends” with some bullet keeping the forbiddance at night, I decided to draw caricatures.After times the commandant time was countermanded and I stopped to draw. But I keep them to remind me how I have done the caricatures against bullets.

Nov Jivot Newspaper

She was only an 18-month old

2009-10-19T03:27:00.001-07:00

Turkan was only a 18-month old when they shot her. She didn’t know what is the Turks or Bulgarian, what is the nationality or that to love your motherland. Her world still was as small as she was. She knew only her name. She looked when someone told her Turkan and immediately came to him. She could say only the words mummy and daddy. And her life was so short that she couldn’t learn more.In June 1984 (Bulgaria) the Politburo voted a policy named “For the further unification and inclusion of Bulgarian Turks into the cause of socialism and the policies of the Bulgarian Communist Party". The plan was to re-name all Islamic minorities with Slavic names, ban the wearing of distinctive Turkish clothing, to forbid the use of the Turkish language and close down the mosques. The assimilation campaign was sold to the ethnic Bulgarian majority as an attempt for national “revival” and was called by the authorities the “The Revival Process”. When the Turkish minority refused to submit to the aims of the assimilation campaign. The regime found itself in a position where they had to use violence.

On 25th December 1984 Bulgarian police and security forces fired the first shots against the Turkish community in the village of Mlechino. While Mlechino was held under siege by Bulgarian security forces some 200 Turkish villagers from the smaller near by towns attempted to break the siege and protest for the return of their passports and reinstatement of their Muslim names.At same time close to the town of Benkovski, some 3,000 Turkish protesters from the near by smaller villages confronted Bulgarian security forces and demanded to have their original identification papers back. The Bulgarian security forces managed to disperse the crowd claiming that they have no idea where their identification papers were and urged them to go back to their villages and inquire from the local mayors. The large police presence was explained with undergoing security forces “exercise maneuvers”. After returning to their towns and discovering that the local municipality didn't have their passports and ID documentation the crowd headed back, this time more decisively, towards the town of Benkovski.

26th of December 1984 Turkan’s family also prepared to go to the protest. The little baby understood that her parents go somewhere and ran to her mother and take mother’s hand. She smiled and said boots - boots. Her mother had told her that she would buy red boots. Turkan thought that they go to a walk. So all family went to the protest place. Turkan was on the mother’s back. There were already and The Bulgarian police and security forces. They were prepared and waiting with some 500-armed men in positions. When the crowd of 2,000 Turkish villagers approached the Bulgarian security they shouted Bulgarian citizens are equal under the laws of the People's Republic of Bulgaria”So began the confrontation between the ethnic Turk population and the Bulgarian police. They kicked at each other. Turkan’s father went to help his friends then some men of the police began to kick and fight him. Turkan’s mother as saw her husband she ran and tried to help him. Of course, Turkan still was on mother’s back. At this moment the police opened fire with automatic weapon. Someone began to shout “Blood, Blood” and pointed at Turkan’s mother. She looked at herself then took her daughter on hands. Turkan had shot at her head. Her body was in blood. The enemy had aimed at the smallest Protestant.The victim of that confrontation was an innocent child. The captured demonstrators were faced down on the snow for 2 hours and blasted with cold water coming from the fire fighting trucks.So short was the life of Turkan. She went from this world without to take a smell of flowers, without to fell the drops of the rain she couldn’t see enough of her mother. We have to take warning by our mistakes. Don’t forget Turkan and don’t let to forget her in order to hasn’t got other innocent victims.

On 26th of December every year stand in memory of Turkan in village Mogilane.

Seven girls built a mosque without nails

2009-09-10T04:10:00.001-07:00

The mosque in the Podkova (Horseshoe) is a wooden building. The building has a unique construction technology. It brings about an interesting legend. Seven girls from long-vanished village Ramollar decided not to marry but to devote themselves to the faith. They sold their dowry money and bought logs. Ported them on the way back from Mount Gyobren. Built a mosque for a night without using a single nail. Then the girls disappeared.
The mosque is currently operational. Every Friday there are believers gather 200-250 Horseshoe and surrounding villages.

Who do belong to these graves?

2009-08-21T06:01:00.001-07:00

No one knows whom belong to 5 graves which are situated on the Bulgarian – Greek border. On the peak Kodjaele (1266m.) one besides the other standing graves the four of them are situated on the Bulgarian and the one is on the Greek borderland. The nearest Greek village to these graves is Hloe and the Bulgarian village is Gorno Yurutsi.

The Holy City of Perperikon (video)

2009-08-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

Perperikon is a sanctuary rising high on a rocky peak at 470 m of height. It is situated in the eastern part of the Rhodope Mountains and is 15 km away from the town of Kardzhali. In its foot is the village of Gorna krepost (Upper fortress), and close to it flows the river of Perperikon ,which runs into an artificial lake called “Cold spring”. Along river’s valley there are a lot of archeological places, dating from different ages, which are scattered in the chaos and well set around the real centre of Perperikon.
It includes four main parts which represent a brilliant composition of the New Stone Age: -a massive fortified wall -Acropolis- an enormous stone blocks, situated on the highest part of the hill. -A palace- hewn into the rock with 10 000m2 of size. -Northern and southern suburbs- represents a kind of short streets right into rocks, buildings and tombs.
Millenniums ago Perperikon sheltered various generations who left their stamp on the rocks. In the New Stone Age (the end of the VI century- the beginning of the V century B.C.) Perperikon was an outcrop. People did not use tools so the nature was to model the rocks. Perperikon was recounted to have been not a settlement, but a deified rock. Later, after perfecting the tools Romans and Thracians engraved much more surfaces from the rocks and turned the stone into fortified walls, built without using any connecting materials. The first vigorous growth of Perperikon was at the time of Troy and Mycenae. Thousands of historical records, representing altar bays, drainage, and tombs date back to that period of time. Some of the sanctuaries were used for animal sacrifice, others for humans as well.

The greenest city in Bulgaria - Kardzhali

2009-08-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

Distance:
To the Greek and Turkish Border - 50km, To the Capital Sofia - 250km, To the Airport Plovdiv - 90km,To Airport Varna - 420km, andTo Burgas Airport - 270km
Kardzhali is located in the low eastern part of Rhodope Mountains, on both banks of the Arda River between the Kardzhali Reservoir to the west and the Studen Kladenets Reservoir to the east.
History
The location of Kardzhali has been inhabited since the Neolithic. Plenty of artifacts have been found during the archaeological excavations comprising ceramics and primitive tools. Most of them are now exhibited in the local museum of history.
Later Thracian tribes settled in the area developing a highly advanced civilization. They built many sanctuaries dedicated to the gods of Sun and Earth. Near the village of Nenkovo (northwest of Kardzhali) an artificial cave was found in 2001. It has the form of a woman's womb. Exactly at noon, when the sun is highest on the sky, a ray of light comes in through a stone slit forming a falitic shade in the cave. According to the Thracian beliefs this is the conception of the new Sun god. This cave is considered a complex astronomic facility as the ray of light comes in the cave in a single day in the year. There are many stone castles and palaces the Thracians built in the region — Perperek, Ustra, Vishegrad. The most magnificent is Perperikon where a residence of a Thracian king was situated. The place is getting more popular as archaeological works are in progress and new artifacts are being discovered.
During the Byzantine period Kardzhali was the centre of a Christian eparchy — Achridos.[citation needed] The Monastery of John the Precursor was built in the 6th-8th century and is now a monument of medieval architecture.
The name Kardzhali is mentioned for the first time in Ottoman documents. It comes from the name of the Ottoman army leader Kardzha Ali (modern Turkish spelling: Kırca Ali), who conquered the region in the 14th century. Its old Bulgarian name, mentioned until the 17th century, was Žerkovo (Zherkovo).
The town developed because of its position on the trade roads during the Ottoman rule. However, it remained a small town with almost no industry. During the 18th century Turkish brigands used this remote town as a hide-away and supply point, and the town was named after their leader. The best known of these brigands was led by Pazvantoğlu Osman Pasha who ruled most of northeastern Bulgaria and the Danube estuary until 1807.
Kardzhali and its neighborhood became part of the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia under the stipulations of the Berlin Congress of 1878, but after the reunification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1885, was ceded back to the Ottoman Empire as a township of Gümülcine sanjak in Edirne vilayet. Ottoman rule ended during the First Balkan War, with its liberation by the Bulgarian General Vasil Delov on 21 October 1912. The day has been celebrated yearly, since 1937, as a municipal holiday through concerts and commemorative events. Kardzhali was declared the center of Kardzhali Province in 1949.

Demographics

Memorial to the Jewish community of Kardzhali
According to the last census in 2001, Kardzhali municipality ( the city plus 118 villages) had a population of 69830, while the city itself had a population of 45729. More recent estimates give 119978 and 76232 respectively, but these estimates are considered doubtful due to their reliance on address registration, while the census is based on persons present. In 1989 the population was estimated at 59,000.
Almost the entire population of Kardzhali was made up of Turks until 1913.Later, Bulgarian refugees from Eastern and Western Thrace and Roma people settled in Kardzhali. Some Turks immediately moved to the Ottoman Empire in 1913 in response to the Bulgarian return in their lands. Further emigration to Turkey continued between 1913 and 1989, either voluntarily, forcefully or under treaties between Bulgaria and Turkey. Bulgarians came in the city from other parts of the country or as refugees from the parts of Thrace left outside Bulgaria. Turkish emigration from the city was particularly intense in 1989, during the state-sponsored Revival Process which saw the forced conversion of ethnic Turks.
After 1990 the deteriorating economic conditions in Bulgaria (and especially the region) during the post-communist transition led many Bulgarians families to leave the area and move to more prosperous parts of Bulgaria or abroad. The economic crisis also affected the remaining Turkish population in the city, resulting in another wave of migration to Turkey.
Kardzhali Region is currently (2006) the region of Bulgaria with the highest relative proportion of ethnic Turks. As of 2003, the population of Kardzhali municipality consisted of 53% Turks, 42% Bulgarians and 1% Roma, among others. The population structure of the city itself is undetermined, though as the rural areas of the municipality are overhelmingly Turkish, it is believed that Bulgarians predominate in the city. The regional government today is primarily in the hands of the Turkish-dominated Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The province is represented in the National Assembly of Bulgaria by five deputies.
In December 1989 and January 1990 there were a series of demonstrations in Kardzhali against the liberalization of anti-Turkish laws. A particular issue of contention was whether Turkish should be taught in state schools as an elective. In response Turkish students boycotted schools until the ban on using their mother tongue was discontinued.

Economy

The new openmaket
Formerly Kardzhali was a tobacco processing center, but for economic reasons some of the communist era industrial plants are no longer operative. The large deposits of lead and zinc ore in the area make the town an attractive location for the metallurgy and machine building industry.
Retail trade and services constitute the largest share of local production. The abundance of cultural and natural sights in the area also make it a promising area for tourism.

Culture and tourism
The Thracian town of Perperikon is located near the city on a rock high above the valley. It is interesting for the fact that it is cut in the rock.
The monastery of John the Precursor from 11th century is located in the Vesselchane Quarter of the town. It was renovated in 2000 and a new bell tower was built.
The town clock is unique in Bulgaria because it sounds Bulgarian revolutionary songs every hour.
The Kardzhali Museum of History has one of the most extensive exhibitions in Southern Bulgaria. This includes pre-historic tools and ceramics from the Thracian cities of Perperikon and Tatul, Christian icons and ethnographic exhibits. It is located in the old konak (the Turkish town-hall built around 1870) with its period exterior architecture.
There are many open-air restaurants, offering a variety of drinks and cocktails in summer time on the dam. It is a popular place among fans of water sports and fishing.
The town has two drama theaters — "Dimitar Dimov" and "Kadrie Lyatifova", a puppet theater and a museum of history medrese, as well as an art gallery.
5 km (3 mi) from Kardzhali, near the village of Zimzelen, is a small badlands, where a series of white pillars have eroded out of the volcanic tuff which are referred to as the "Kardzhali Pyramids". Ensembles have been given names based on resemblances. One is known as "The Mushrooms" and another as the "Stone Wedding".

Dams
There are two large dams on the Arda River. Studen Kladenez Dam is on the east and Kurdzhali Dam is on the west. The city is sandwiched between the two dams. Upper part of Studen Kladenez Dam is now up to the old bridge inside the city. The concrete wall of the Kurdzhali Dam is only about two kilometers upstream from this bridge. The reservoir of the Kurdzhali Dam was recently seeded artificially with European perch. The fish were taken from the Ovčarica (Ovcharitsa) dam.
The first historical moment of the dam was in the 1970s, when it was artificially seeded with sheatfish. Nowadays there are 100 kg representatives. Later, 45,000 carp were introduced into the dam as well.

Kardzhali Mosque

2009-08-10T05:48:00.000-07:00

Keep the beard of Prophet Muhammad in Kardzhali mosque. The relic “ Beard sherife “ is every bit of 150 years old.The peerless jewel show once a year to the believers.

The local people call the relic “ Beard sherife “, which a literal translation means “ Sacred beard". It covered from 50 cloths and hides in one of the stone walls to the Kardzhali mosque. The beard is put in circle wooden box. It is long 5-6 centimeters and its color is orange. The beard of the Prophet Muhammad has kept in the mosque for 150 years.
The peerless jewel show once a year to the believers – three days before Ramadan.

Parks

2009-08-10T04:21:00.000-07:00

There are three parks in Kardzhali : Prostor, Gorubso and the Public garden. In the park Prostor is the children's train which runs on real rails and it is the only such attraction in Bulgaria.

"PUBLIC PARK"

Media

2009-08-04T05:07:00.000-07:00

Newspapers

"Nov jivot"

"Rhodopes 24x7 "

"Ardanews"

"Kardzhali haber"

Churches - The monastery of “St. John the Precursor”

2009-08-04T04:54:00.000-07:00

The monastery of “St. John the Precursor” is situated in the centre of the town Kardzhali.
And the location of the monastery ” St. Yoan Prodrom ” is the “ Veselchane” residential district
A restored Medieval monastery complex dating back to the 9th – 14th century. A cleric’s remains as well as his symbols and materials /gold-woven shroud/ had been found in a preserved tomb which is located in the narthex of the church. The church is restored and some of the wall-paintings are preserved. It exists and functions nowadays.

Monastery "St. Yoan Prodrom"

Theatres

2009-08-04T04:40:00.000-07:00

Theatres "Dimitar Dimov" and "Kadrie Lyatifova" are both located in Kardzhali. These drama theatres offer regular theatrical productions. The Kardzhali Puppet Theatre is another excellent choice for those looking for a unique experience.

Theatre " Dimitar Dimov"

The Rock Womb

2009-07-23T06:13:00.000-07:00

The Rock Womb at Nenkovo- This amazing structure was discovered in 2001 and it is situated some 24 km from Kardzhali. It is high in the mountain, in a wild, rocky area above the Borovitza hut. The temple is shaped like the opening to a vagina. It leads into a cave deep about 22 m. A human hand shaped it into a place of conception constantly washed by water seeping through the walls. At the deep far end of the cave, a carved altar symbolises the womb itself. At midday as the sun approaches its highest point in the sky, its light seeps into the cave through a special opening in the ceiling and projects a perfectly recognisable representation of a phallus onto the floor. As the sun progresses further, and the light slants across the interior of the cave, the phallus grows longer, reaching out to the womb altar. Only during some months of the year, when the sun is lowest on the horizon, the phallus becomes long enough to reach the altar and symbolically fecundate the womb.

White-painted bride honors Bulgarian Muslim rite

2009-07-09T04:58:00.000-07:00

RIBNOVO, Bulgaria (Reuters) - Fikrie Sabrieva, 17, will marry with her eyes closed and her face painted white, dotted with bright sequins. She lives 'at the end of the world', tending a hardy Muslim culture in largely Christian Bulgaria.
The remote village of Ribnovo, set on a snowy mountainside in southwest Bulgaria, has kept its traditional winter marriage ceremony alive despite decades of Communist persecution, followed by poverty that forced many men to seek work abroad.
"Other nearby villages tried the traditional marriage after the ban was lifted, but then the custom somehow died away -- women wanted to be modern," said Ali Mustafa Bushnak, 61, whose daughter came to watch Fikrie's wedding.
"Maybe we are at the end of the world. Or people in Ribnovo are very religious and proud of their traditions."
Some experts say clinging to the traditional wedding ceremony is Ribnovo's answer to the persecutions of the past.
Bulgaria is the only European Union nation where Muslims' share is as high as 12 percent. The communist regime, which did not tolerate any religious rituals, tried to forcibly integrate Muslims into Bulgaria's largely Christian Orthodox population, pressing them to abandon wearing their traditional outfits and adopt Slavonic names.
The wedding ritual was resurrected with vigor among the Pomaks -- Slavs who converted to Islam under Ottoman rule and now make up 2.5 percent of Bulgaria's 7.8 million population -- after communism collapsed in 1989.
But today it is still performed only in the closed society of Ribnovo and one other village in the Balkan country. Young men return from abroad to the crisp mountain snows, just for the winter weddings.
People in Ribnovo identify themselves more by their religion, as Muslims, than by their ethnicity or nationality, and the wedding ceremony is an expression of their piety. The village has 10 clerics and two mosques for 3,500 inhabitants.
DOWRY ON DISPLAY
Fikrie's family have been laboriously piling up her dowry since she was born -- mostly handmade knit-work, quilts, coverlets, sheets, aprons, socks, carpets and rugs.
On a sunny Saturday winter morning they hang the items on a wooden scaffolding, 50 meters long and three meters high, erected specially for the occasion on the steep, muddy road of scruffy two-storey houses that leads to her home.
Nearly everyone in the village comes to inspect the offerings: Fikrie's tiny homeyard has been turned into a showroom for the furniture and household appliances the bride has to provide for her new household.
The girl and her husband-to-be, Moussa, 20, then lead a traditional horo dance on the central square, joined by most of the village's youth.
But the highlight of the ceremony, the painting of the bride's face, comes at the end of the second day.In a private rite open only to female in-laws, Fikrie's face is covered in thick, chalky white paint and decorated with colorful sequins. A long red veil covers her hair, her head is framed with tinsel, her painted face veiled with and silvery filaments.
Clad in baggy pants and bodice shimmering in all the colors of the rainbow, the bride is presented by her future husband, her mother and her grandmother to the waiting crowd.
Fikrie is not permitted to open her eyes wide until a Muslim priest blesses the young couple. Alcohol is forbidden at the wedding receptions and sex before marriage is taboo.
BANNED RITUALS
Ethnographers say it is hard to date the bridal painting ritual, as the communist regime did not encourage studies into minority ethnic and religious groups.
"It is very likely that it is an invented tradition. It's their way to express who they are," said Margarita Karamihova, an associate professor at the Ethnography Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Science.
Experts say Pomaks had identity problems and faced more challenges than the majority of Muslims in Bulgaria, who are ethnic Turks.
"In the 1960s they would ban Islamic music at weddings, then they would not allow traditional clothes, and in the 1980s, the whole traditional Pomak wedding was banned," said municipality mayor, Ahmed Bashev, born in Ribnovo.
Ribnovo's inhabitants used to make a living from tobacco and agriculture, but low incomes in the poorest EU country forced men to start seeking jobs in cities in Bulgaria or in western Europe -- not least to raise money for a wedding.
Outside influences have been slow to reach Ribnovo and young people rarely marry an outsider. Another Fikrie, 19-year-old Fikrie Inuzova, suggested the women, for whom the acceptable bridal age is up to 22, are not in a rush to modernize.
"My brother wants to travel, see the world... It's different for men. They can do whatever. I want to stay here and marry."