Рainted Brides Don’t Cry
© Photo: Veneta Nikolova, see.bg |
In one of the
mountainous areas of southwestern Bulgaria is the Muslim-Bulgarian village of
Ribnovo. It seems like time has stopped here and locals stubbornly stick to
their patriarchal values, customs and traditions. Here when young couples
decide to marry, their wedding turns into a fairytale experience – for three
days the guests are celebrating and rejoicing.
Lina Ivanova
A documentary
entitled Painted Brides Don’t Cry portrays one of these unique weddings in
Ribnovo, a village in the Rhodope Mountain, some 120 km from Sofia. It is
produced by TV channel Tourism (TVT) and its author is Radio Bulgaria’s
journalist Veneta Nikolova. The picturesque scenes from this beautiful Rhodope
village, the authentic music and emotional story in the film introduce
spectators into an unfamiliar and somewhat unreal, timeless, world.
© Photo: Veneta Nikolova, see.bg |
"As soon as
we arrived in Ribnovo for the filming, I noticed that this village, located
high in the mountains and quite isolated, is bustling with life," the
film’s screenwriter Veneta Nikolova explains. The steep streets are constantly
full of women with colorful headscarves, children, and men. The whole place
resounds with the sound of hammers and chisels because there is constant
construction work going on. Music is heard from the distance. Such activity is
not typical for the increasingly rising number of deserted villages in
Bulgaria. The film is an attempt to take a glipmse of the small yet colorful
world of the Ribnovo residents encapsulated in time and somewhat
incomprehensible for us. The wedding ceremony in Ribnovo is the best expression
of the outlook and lifestyle of these people, their sense of belonging to a
small community that is sooner or later doomed to "dissolve" in
today's modern reality. The fate of Ribnovo residents is somehow predestined
from birth and the stages in their lives are accompanied by certain rules and
rituals. So it was 200-300 years ago, so it is today! It is this predictability
that gives locals a sense of security and "comfort", which is lacking
in us, “modern” people. Although many of them are forced to seek work abroad,
they always return home. And when a girl is born in the family, they start
collecting the dowry - all household belonging needed for family life. But if a
boy is born - all efforts are aimed at building a new house for the future
family."
© Photo: Veneta Nikolova, see.bg |
The film is
beautifully shot by cinematographer
Dobrin Keresteliev. Most colorful are the scenes with the preparation of the
wedding trousseau. Everything that the parents have gathered over the years for
the girl’s new family is taken outside the house of the bride. On high
scaffolds along the entire street they arrange rugs, aprons, tablecloths,
carpets ... The result is an amazing explosion of colors. The parents also
offer on display to the entire village the future household furniture prepared
for the new family – the nuptial bed, the kitchen cupboards, the microwave
oven, the plasma TV ... And then a motley multitude of people starts gathering
in front of the maiden's house. From time to time the onlookers stop gazing at
a colorful rug or a new item of furniture, exchanging lively comments. And then
comes the wedding procession before the bride is taken to her home where she
will become a “gelina". "This is how brides in this region are
called," says Veneta:
© Photo: Veneta Nikolova, see.bg |
"The mother
takes the girl to her native home whose threshold she will cross for the last
time as an unmarried girl. Only women gather round her. They help her put on
her wedding dress which, interestingly, is not white but full of amazing
colors. They put her to lie down and then a special woman from the village
arrives to paint her face. For this purpose, she spreads white cream on her
face and sticks colorful sequins on her cheeks, forehead and chin. Thus, the
bride becomes unrecognizable. Actually, this mask hides her from the world. One
explanation is that this is a way to protect her from evil eyes, because in
this transitional moment between maidenhood and mature age the young woman is
particularly fragile and vulnerable. As we were preparing for the filming, I
and producer Georgi Krumov talked to the locals from where their customs come
from and what makes them adhere so strictly to them and they answered us always
in the same way - "It was and it will be!"
© Photo: Veneta Nikolova, see.bg |
Painted Brides
Don’t Cry is the story of a closed Muslim community which is stubbornly
unwilling to change. "These people are proud to publicly declare their
“otherness” and their old customs. But that does not mean that they are archaic
and are some sort of "relics" completely isolated from life in the
21st century! Unlike us, they have the ability to easily switch from tradition
to modernity. The residents of Ribnovo exist simulatenously in two cultures and
this makes them richer than us, the people living in a globalized, uniform and
standardized world", film’s author Veneta Nikolova says in conclusion.BNR
Translated by
Rossitsa Petcova
Radio Bulgaria
Lina Ivanova . Neverending
Journey
Labels: documentary, muslin, Ribnovo, Veneta Nikolova
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