Abstrakt: |
With its fifth edition in 2019, the festival ‘Na Megdana na Drugata Bulgaria’ (At the Public Square and Gathering Point of the Other Bulgaria) establishes itself as one of the main events for Bulgarian emigrants in Europe. It gathers folklore enthusiasts and besides a dancing stage, it is a ground for new friendships, meetings, and exchange of expertise. The article examines the festival as a place of contact of informal migration-based groups of interest and as a trigger for developing an imagined community around symbols such as origin, clothes, music, dance and food. The ‘megdan’ is considered a community centre existing mainly in people’s mind but not as a geographic location. The article searches for the link between the event and the ways of preserving and transmitting cultural heritage in migration. The study was conducted in three stages: a preliminary online survey; a fieldwork in the period May 10 – 12, 2019 in La Nucia, Spain; an additional digital data gathering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |