shakir byram.

shakir byram, also known as eid-ul-fitr, is a muslim holiday that celebrates the end of ramadan. it is celebrated many different ways all over the muslim world but in bulgaria is consists of a lot of individual-sized chocolates, short walks, long conversations, family, drinking coffee, and eating meat. shakir byram is celebrated over three days, the first day being the most important. on this first day the men of village wake up at five in the morning and go to mosque. there they pray for several hours and when they exit their procession signifies the end of ramadan, the period of fasting, and the beginning of byram the holiday of celebration. when the men return home the family shares their first meal together during daylight in the last 30 days. this feasting and celebrating in each others company lasts for three long happy days.

this byram i was invited to the village of Ribnovo. in bulgarian muslim culture it is typical after marriage for the woman to move into the house of her husband. Nuka, my friend, is from Ribnovo and when she married Albien, she moved to Gorno Dryanovo. although a river only separates the two villages, Nuka makes the trip to Ribnovo once or twice a year because ofthe terrible road conditions and lack of access to a car. to say this was a special ocassion is anunderstatement. with a knock at my door Ali, Nuka's son and my fifth grader, told me we were leaving. because Ribnovo is a very conservative village i packed a lot of clothing because i was unsure of what to wear. i felt ridiculous when i threw my backpack into the hatchback and realized that the only thing the family of five had packed was food. someone made a joke about my bag and we were off in our borrowed car.

we arrived in Ribnovo an hour later and greeted everyone at Nuka's mom's house. it was a happy occasion that Nuka had arrived back in her village. as the family caught up the children took part in the traditional custom of wishing their elders a blessed byram by kissing their hands and putting them to their foreheads. the elders in return gave children a small bill of money as a gift. as new family members arrived the children made the rounds wishing their aunts and uncles a happy byram and collecting money they later spent on fireworks and plastic

imports from china.

the day consisted of family coming in and out, going for walks around the village, eating chocolates, and conversing. there seemed to be a lot of young girls in the village and they immediately took on the responsibility of showing me around. there were few moments throughout the day when a girl was not holding my hand as we walked through the village. Ribnovo is known for being one of the most traditional villages in bulgaria and has retained many customs that can only be found there. in a bulgaria that seems almost obsessed with being seen as 'modern' it was refreshing to see a place that is proud if it’s past.

one such custom is called the движение (divizhenie) which directly translated means movement. the dvizhenie is a tradition where men choose their wives. every night the eligible boys line up on both sides of a narrow street. the eligible women walk up and down the aisle in pairs of two or three and the boys watch the procession. the boys call out to the girls, the girls smile and retort with something, and then eventually the boy may get the courage to ask a girl out for coffee. if the girl is willing they leave the divizhenie together and find a dark corner in the village to talk for a half an hour. if they like each other they will become a couple and maybeeventually marry. if they don't then it is back to the dvizhenie to find another partner.

i had heard about this tradition from Nuka and was interested to see it take place but had no interest in taking part. but one minute i thought i was walking hand in hand with two of my fast made friends and the next thing i knew we were walking in the dvizhenie. i walked for about two minutes before i started to feel extremely uncomfortable with all the cat calling and touching. i told my friends i would wait on the side of the road and watch. they, however, being their hospitable selves, would not let me wait alone and so we stood together hand in hand watching all the girls in their finest clothes walk by and all the boys picking out their dates or maybe their future wives. at the end of the night i was almost delirious with exhaustion. i am not sure if it was a result of my sugar consumption that day or just the pure exhaustion that comes from being a foreigner in a strange land but when my head hit the pillow, i did not wake up until morning.

in the morning i woke up to a complete breakfast and a traditional outfit laid out for me to wear. after watching several videos of past family weddings and eating a full breakfast on a full stomach the women in the family dressed me meticulously in the traditional holiday clothing and we headed out to the streets. everyone asked who i was, not because they knew i was a foreigner, but because i was a new face in the village. when they found out that i was an American dressed as a woman from Ribnovo they were shocked and then humored. all day we walked through the streets greeting people and wishing them a happy byram.

when we arrived back to Baba's house we ate a large meal of lamb, grapes, soup, bread, and salad. i have still yet to master the art of deciphering parts of lamb when all parts, including brain and tongue, are piled into one large bowl. this talent is extra hard to master because usually when i am choosing a piece of meat everyone is watching to see what i will choose therefore heightening the pressure. so once again, i choose hastily and wound up with a mostly fatty bone on my plate. i picked away at it throughout the meal and when i did not know what to do with it next it was time to go.

we loaded into the car and off we went back to Gorno Dryanovo. but because no trip in bulgaria is complete without a spontaneous side trip we off-roaded in our tiny barely alive hatchback into a tobacco field to get a view of Gorno Dryanovo from the other side of the mountains. it was a bumpy ride but when we made it the view was majestic. the color of the tobacco plants against the mountains looked as if it had been photoshopped and the happiness of being together with family and full bellies made for a most memorable moment.