Gerald Creed - Ethnographic Fieldwork in Bulgaria

Gerald Creed has been conducting fieldwork in rural Bulgaria since 1987. His research concerns the impact of changing agrarian regimes - first collectivization and now decollectivization - on household economies in a northwestern village. The picture here comes from a new project on agrarian ritual in the south of the country. The ritual, known as kukeri, is attributed to Thracian origins and consists of elaborately masked performers who transverse the village to ward off evil and insure fertility. At each house they are treated to food and drink, and as the picture suggests, the ethnographer [c.] was also able to enjoy these benefits. Here he shares some homemade wine as it is passed among the dancers.