CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONALACTIVITIES OF PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS OF BULGARIANS IN UKRAINEDURING THE END OF THE 20TH–THE FIRST DECADES OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the cultural and educational activities of public organizations of the Bulgarian community of Ukraine and their role in preserving the identity of the ethnic community. The purpose of their activity is defined, the main directions of cultural and educational work and a role in preservation, development and popularization of the Bulgarian culture and language, revival of the Bulgarian traditions and rites are described. 

There are currently about 50 Bulgarian villages in Ukraine, which are located in the Bolgrad, Artsyz, Tatarbunar, Tarutyn, Sarat, Izmail, Reniya, Kili districts of the Odesa region, in the Berdyansk, Primorsky, Priazovsky, Yakimiv, Melitopol districts of the Zaporizhia region, temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. There are also villages in the Kropyvnytsia region. A smaller number of Bulgarians live in Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia for almost ten years, in the Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zakarpattia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipro, and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine. More than a thousand Bulgarians live in Kyiv and Kharkiv.

The Bulgarian community, living for several generations on the territory of Ukraine in conditions of different ethnic surroundings and different cultural traditions, has preserved the Bulgarian language, folk customs, rites, everyday life and traditions in its environment, without losing its national identity. The activity of the Bulgarian ethnic community is related both to the desire for cohesion of representatives of the Bulgarian nationality, and to integration into the life of villages, cities and the Ukrainian state in general. In 2021, there were more than forty Bulgarian national and cultural associations at the all-Ukrainian, regional, city, and district levels in Ukraine.

The purpose of the cultural and educational activities of the public associations of Bulgarians of Ukraine is the preservation and development of Bulgarian traditions, culture, the study of the Bulgarian language, the history of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian community of Ukraine. Public associations of Bulgarians in Ukraine open Sunday schools; conduct commemoration events, folklore and ethnographic festivals, exhibitions, meetings; celebrate national and calendar holidays; mark places of memory, in particular, contribute to the opening of new monuments, bas-reliefs, memorial plaques, which works to preserve the ethnic identity of Bulgarians in Ukraine.