20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Timokenian and Danubian Romanians.Ethnological perspective 1Emil ŢîrcomnicuInstitute of Ethnography and Folklore ‟Constantin Brăiloiu” – BucharestIn Northern Bulgaria there are two Romanian communities,ethnographically differentiated. Timokenian Romanians live in the regionbetween Vidin and Timok, in the Bulgarian area, compactly located in 31villages and one town, Bregova, border point with Serbia, in Vidin townincluding (named by Romanians Dii). According to the estimates of IvoGheorghiev, the president of The Romanian Ethnic Union (AVE), theirnumber was 125.000-130.000 inhabitants, and in the whole of Bulgariathere were 300.000 inhabitants. Nevertheless, currently the figures are nolonger accurate, since more than 50% of rural population of Bulgaria’sNorthern region emigrated abroad or moved in the big towns in Bulgaria.From Lom to Silistra, in the regions (oblasts) of Montana, Vraţa, Pleven,Lovech, Veliko Târnovo, Ruse and Silistra, predominantly in Vraţa,Plevna and Veliko Târnovo, there ares almost 100 villages, inhabited invarying degrees – from 10% to 80% – of population of Romanian descent.Nevertheless, in current official censuses, this Romanian population is notmentioned.In historical and ethno-folklore literature, the Romanians of the twocommunities were named Timokenian and Danubian. In their turn, theTimokenian Romanians are divided in three ethnographic sub-groups:“pădureni” (people of forests), “câmpeni” (people of plains) and “văleni”(people of valleys). The Romanians from Danube valley, whose familiesemigrated after 1800, are identified by the rest of the Romanian populationalso under the name of “ţăreni” (people from the country).1This work was supported by CNCSIS – UEFISCSU, project number PNII – IDEIcode 868/2008 and contract number 960/2009.