The Social Roles of the Best Man and the Godfather in the Culture of the Bulgarians and the Greeks from the Strandzha Mountains and the Southern Bulgarian Blak Sea Coast

Authors:

Pages: 57-72
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/TYIE8461

Abstract:

This article features a comparative analysis of some characteristic family rituals typical of two ethnic groups that lived in immediate vicinity for a very long period in history i.e. the ethnic groups of the Tronki, Ruptsi and Zagortsi in the Strandzha Mountains on the one hand and the Greeks along the southern Bulgarian Black Sea coast on the other. A comparison of the social role of the families belonging to those ethnic groups has been made with regard to how they protected and helped the younger families and their offsprings with special emphasis on the role played by the Best Man at the wedding and that of the Godfather during the christening of children. Important differences have been revealed between the social role of those two institutions in the cultural life of the Bulgarians living in the Strandzha Mountains and the Greeks on the Black Sea coast.

Keywords:

Best Man; Godfather; wedding; christening; social roles

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