Annual Fairs and Town Holidays in Haskovo and Byala, Bulgaria

Abstract

Markets held annually were once part of Ottoman heritage in the Balkans. However, after the empire’s collapse between the 1890s and 1910s, they eventually lost their importance due to border changes and development of a new market system. The presence of annual and weekly markets in numerous towns in Bulgaria is relatively recent. Some of these markets were inherited from livestock or craft seasonal markets while some emerged as side event for traditional festivals. At the start of the 20th century, annual and weekly markets in Bulgaria were regulated at a national level to avoid clashing because many merchants and even customers travel from place to place buying livestock and household products or just for enjoyment.

Following the centralisation of the products market in the years after 1944, and especially after 1950, the local markets were no longer able to carry out their role as trading venues and instead mainly became entertainment events that attracted people to return to their hometowns. Consequently, these trading activities were transformed into local cultural events and town holidays. Despite being suspended or even banned during the 1970s and 1980s, in the 1990s they were recognised as official holidays in many towns.

This research is made up of a few examples, but two of them will be the focus of the presentation: the city of Haskovo and the town of Byala. Haskovo, a main provincial city, a former open-air market day – now celebrated as a holiday despite the disappearance of the market itself – illustrates the transformations that traditional fairs have undergone over time. Byala is a smaller town where the fair was transformed into a humorous parade staged along with a funfair.