“YOUNG BRIDES FOR SALE’

THE CONTROVERSIAL BRIDE MARKET OF BULGARIA

Every spring, the town of Stara, Zagora in central Bulgaria hosts a

controversial bride market where young virgins are paraded in front of suitors who
bid on them. The market is the biggest annual get-together for Bulgaria’s 18,000-
strong Kalaidzhi Roma clan, a subgroup of the Roma people who face constant
prejudice and exclusion across Europe. Unable to live off their ancient coppersmith
heritage, the constantly sensationalized bride markets are one of the surviving
Kalaidzhi traditions. To find out why these medieval-sounding markets eist in
modern Europe, and how Kalaidzhi girls feel about being sold off. Broadly,
correspondent Milene Larsson travels to the village of Orizovo to spend time with a
family with two daughters as they’re preparing for the annual bride market.

Source: Vice Asia

Prepared by: Emerlyn Santiago

Based in the region of Thrace in central Bulgaria. They’ve drawn international

attention,
for their controversial annual bride market. Women openly being sold off lie
property in
the European country in 2016 seems ludicrous. Let’s find out how something so
medieval
can exist in the modern society.

They are a Kalaidzhi family with two daughters, Vera, the mother, Christo, the
father Pepa
25 (wearing pink) and Rosi 19 (nephew on her lap). Let us know how they prepare for
the
bride market.
Vera was sold to their dad Christo at a bride market. Let us know how the family
feels
about the prospect of, Pepa and Rosi being sold in a couple of days.
Vera: When a women gets married she needs to know how to cook and provide
for the parents-in-law.
Pepa: I’ts important because we are closed community. We are Christians and our
husbands must be Kalaidzhi. Kalaidzhi women must be virgins when they
first
first marry.
Vera: It is very important, because a lot of money is given for virginity. If the
girl is not
virgin when you sell her, they will call us whores, sluts, and
disgraceful women.
Interviewer: Have you already found some suitable men for your daughters?
Vera: We’ve found lots of men but our girls don’t want them.
Rosi: Yes, we fancy guys who our parents don’t like. This is how conflict arises.

Unsurprisingly, Vera and her daughters don’t have the same on men. Vera tells me
there are strict rules surrounding Kalaidzhi girls’ contact with guys. Though Pepa
and Rosi have found some loophole. They are showing me the guys they talk to on
social media. Rosi has her eye on one guy in particular which will be attending the
bride market.

Interviewer: Are you allowed to spend time alone, with your potential future
husbands?
Pepa: Kisses, hugs and private meetings aren’t allowed. If boys want to see us they
visit us here at home.

They may not have the freedoms that I take for granted, but they are allowed to
spend on clothes to impress the opposite sex.

But even with all these clothes, the girls want to hit the shops, to make sure they
turn heads on the big day.
Interviewer: When you go to the market how important is the dress?
Rosi: The more beautiful, the better.
Interviewer: What are the things that will make you get a higher price?
Pepa: If you have good jewelry and stylish shoes that matches your dress. If girls
aren’t dress well, the boy’s parents won’t lie them. The more ladylike and
intelligent we are, the better family we come from, the higher price we get. Back
in the day, if a girl was older than 20 she was called as spinster.

Rosi’s outfit cost almost an average Kalaidzhi weekly salary. But Vera considers it
an investment into her daughter’s future.

Interviewer: Do you have a dream of a different life than out of a housewife?

Pepa: A banker
Rosi: A beautician or a hairdresser.
Interviewer: Does anything stand in the way for you to fulfil these dreams?

Rosi: Yes, we don’t have the qualifications and our tradition does not allow us. If
our husband’s old-fashioned and wants to uphold the tradition, he won’t
allow us to work.
He’ll say: “Stay at home and take care of the children.”
Interviewer: Would you like to study and go to school?
Sisters: Yes
Rosi: Yes, of course, who doesn’t want to make her dream come true?
Only 10% of Bulgarian women have secondary education, and one in five are
illiterate.
With all the restrictions imposed on girls, to preserve Kalaidzhi tradition, let’s
find out what their social life is actually like.

The twins, Pepa and Mima are 19 and Vera only 16 cousins of Rosi and Pepa.
Interviewer: What do you think is the most highly priced asset as a potential
bride?
Twins: Virginity
Mima: We should never sleep with a guy before marriage
Pepa: That would be a disgrace for a girl’s family.
Interviewer: Do you think that’s fair?
Cousins: No it’s not.
Interviewer: How do you feel about the bride market?
Pepa: It’s scary. There’s possibility parents could decide to give their daughter’s
hand to a man who has more money, rather than the one who is poor, even if she
loves the poor man.
Interviewer: Is that a fear?
Cousins: Yes
Mima: There are some cases when the boy and the girl love each other, but the girl
has dark eyes, and if the boy’s parents are wealthy, they won’t want her as their
daughter-in-law. They will want a more beautiful one, blonde, fair-skinned with
blue eyes.
Being married of to an older, rich man is a legit fear. I want to ask Pepa who at
25 is already an old in Kalaidzhi terms. The majority of girls marry between 13 and
20..
Interviewer: Do you feel the pressure on you now at this market coming up that you
have to find a husband?
Pepa: Yes I feel the pressure, but it’s complicated, because I’ve lived here for 25
years. I don’t know if I will get used to a husband’s place. It is really difficult
for me. I am worried, because I don’t want to make a mistake. I am trying to choose
the best possible option for me.
Interviewer: I haven’t even married anyone yet, I’m 33, so I get you. You’re lucky
as your parents are patient and want you to find Mr. Right.
Interviewer: What do you usually do when you get together?
Mima: We talk, take pictures and put them on facebook. We listen to music, dance in
front of the mirror.
The girls seem caught between conforming to a traditional culture, but also wanting
to embrace modern life.

Investing in two daughters at marrying age must be expensive.

Interviewer: Can you tell me
about family businesses.
Christo: The Kalaidzhi trade is making dishes out of copper, so the name Kalaidzhi
means coppersmith. We use the same technique as our ancestors. Back in the day, we
earned a lot of money. Now it’s hard because there’s n work. Maybe this craft will
be lost in 30 to 40 years.
Cheap goods from China are affecting the once valued Kalaidzhi trade. I’m starting
to see why a high bride price has become even more important.
It’s the night before the bride market and Vera has invited the extended family
over for a party. The girls don’t go to nightclubs. If they want to go to a
nightclub, they come here. They gather in one room to play music and dance. The
girls must always have a chaperone.
It’s the morning of the bride market, but before we go, I’ve arranged to meet a
girl who is rebelling against her families desire to sell her off.
Vessey: My parents tried to sell me for 8,000 levs ($4,660). They took me out of
the school so that I could get married but I started crying saying: “No I won’t get
married.” I ran away and hid, and didn’t go as a daughter-in-law.
Interviewer: Why would they take you out from school so early?
Vessey: So girls don’t find a boyfriend at school and runaway with him or become
more sociable and want a modern life, with nightclubs, cafes, and boyfriends with
cars. We don’t want this tradition of marrying only Kalaidzhi and staying virgins.
We want to be like other girls. That’s why parents lock us at home and only let us
go at the bride market.
Interviewer: Would you like to study and have you been able to go to school?
Vessey: I want to continue with my studies and one day be a businesswoman.
Respected. This is my dream. But I must leave my family to make it happen.
Vessey has a boyfriend who is not Kalaidzhi. I asked what would happen if her
parents found out.
Vessey: My parents would marry me off to a Kalaidzhi man and I’ll never gets to see
my boyfriend again. I think selling girls is bullshit and really old-fashioned.

Interviewer: Good morning! How are you feeling today?

Pepa: Nervous, because of the bride market. We must make ourselves beautiful.
Vera: My children and I must look good so people will like us.
Interviewer: What is the average girl bride price?
Vera: Around 500-600 levs ($290-$350). For Pepa, a family already offered me 6,000
levs ($3,500), but I haven’t given her yet. For Rosi, they offered me more. I am
very happy when boys are bidding a lot of money. This means the girls are
beautiful. The boys like them.
Interviewer: Have the market change from when you were younger?
Vera: Yes, a lot. I had to obey my parents. I had to marry whoever they chose. But
with time, we fell in love.

The bride market is held 20 minute drive away, in Stara Zagora in a big parking
lot. Where some 2000 Kalaidzhi were getting the party started. Most of the girls
are eligible to be bid on the market, are 13 to 20 years old.

I can’t forget that these girls are being raised to serve their future husbands
instead of pursuing their ambitions. But the bride market ended up being less
disturbing, than I feared it would be. Perhaps, this is just a Kalaidzhi’s way of
hanging on to their traditions, their pride and identity in an ever homogenized
world.