Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

THE TABLE AS A FUNCTIONAL CENTER OF BULGARIAN REVIVAL HOUSE

2019; Volume: 35; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

2545-4439

Milena Dineva-Muleshkova,

Financial Crisis of the 21st Century

The article draws attention to the functions of the table in the structure of 19th century Bulgarian dwelling. Different texts from the Bulgarian Renaissance period were used as empirical material - ethnographic notes, collections of utilitarian-didactic character and literary works. The first part of the article presents different cultural and anthropological visions of the home space. The home is regarded primarily as a socio-anthropological realization of culture. Separated from the rest of the world by a boundary (threshold), the topos assumes the existence of another space inside, laden with a particular sacredness and separated according to the relevant socio-cultural codes. It is the place of refuge that diverts chance and in which one can preserve his true identity.The second part of the article focuses on the location of the table in the internal structure of the Renaissance dwelling. It, along with the hearth and the guide, is one of the main functional centers of the home. Through examples from different texts by Georgi Sava Rakovski, Najden Gerov, Emanuil Vaskidovich, Rajno Popovich, Liuben Karavelov and other Renaissance authors illustrate the socio-cultural aspects of the meal in the Renaissance home. Emphasis is placed on the process of shared family eating as a manifestation of the generic nature of the individual. From the cultural-anthropological point of view, through the act of joint home-eating and family gathering around the table, important ethno-psychological ideas and patterns of thinking are realized and manifested. Practices related to the provision of food and its preparation, the placement of individuals around the eating top, the behavior around the table are socialized, socializing and strictly regulated actions, whose daily occurrence provides and reaffirms the existence of the community. In its essence, the model of a harmonious family table recreates the model of the home. Its main function is to organize the family space, to create a sense of meaning and order.The table is a place of social sharing, calm, stability and togetherness. The community recovers itself on a daily basis by gathering around the nutrition topos, reproducing its own perceptions of measure and social order. Marking the boundaries of the territory of existence, the table explicates a certain code of rules and prohibitions that outline the socio-cultural dimensions of cohabitation, reflecting the current norms in the family, hierarchy and the roles of its members. Thus, it emerges as one of the spaces in which the Renaissance person has the opportunity to demonstrate himself, relying among others.