The Balkan gurbet/pečalbarstvo - past and present
The article presents an observation on the various traditional forms of cross-border seasonal labour mobility on the Balkans, both as agricultural works away from the home place, and as large-scale temporary craftsmen’s migrations of builders, bakers, dairy workers, confectioners and so on....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Institute of Ethnography, SASA, Belgrade
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU |
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| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2015/0350-08611503551H.pdf |
| Summary: | The article presents an observation on the various traditional forms of
cross-border seasonal labour mobility on the Balkans, both as agricultural
works away from the home place, and as large-scale temporary craftsmen’s
migrations of builders, bakers, dairy workers, confectioners and so on. In
countries like Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia, traditional
cultural models of trans-border labour mobility that encompasses the
majority of the male population of entire regions have existed for
centuries. These migrant groups created the specific subculture of gurbet,
which the men carried with them in the big city, at the same time altering
the entire model of traditional culture in their home regions. The annual
journeys of men from the various mountain parts of the Balkans “at work” and
“for gain” (pečalba) in the course of the years developed specific features
of the feast-ritual system and folklore in the villages of these regions. At
the same time, the traditional Balkan gurbet is an important condition for
mutual penetration between various cultures and peoples and for creating new
cultural patterns and various multidimentional identities. |
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| ISSN: | 0350-0861 2334-8259 |