Young Brides for Sale at Bulgaria’s Controversial Bride Market

Two Sisters at Bulgaria’s Controversial Bride Market

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 sensationalised bride markets are one of the last surviving Kalaidzhi traditions. To find out why these medieval-sounding markets exist in modern Europe, and how Kalaidzhi girls feel about being sold off, Broadly correspondent Milène 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.

The tradition is the subject of a recent Broadly documentary Young Brides for Sale by Milene Larsson and Alice Stein, who travelled to Stara Zagora in Bulgaria to watch one family up close as their teen

The Swedish filmmaker said her “jaw dropped” when she first heard about the concept but on closer inspection it’s far more complex than it seems.

“The bride market is an ancient tradition essential to the Kalaidzhi identity, which is why this custom has survived, but these days most girls have an element of choice — albeit shaped by family pressure — when it comes to whom they wed,” she said.“That doesn’t by any means justify the disturbing idea that women are property that you can sell, bid on and buy, and how that shapes these girls’ lives from day one. They are brought up not to discover who they are and their ambitions, but instead to obey and serve their future husbands.”

Bulgaria’s Controversial Bride Market

Bulgaria’s Controversial Bride Market

Bulgaria’s Controversial Bride Market

While the generations-old market has been changed by technology and the economic downturn, it’s still one of the main ways families are introduced to one another in a country where they are economically and socially discriminated against.

Grooms pay an average of $290 to $350 for their young brides, Ms Larsson reports, however the price can go much higher. The family featured in the Broadly documentary have spent a week’s wages on new clothing for their daughter.

The documentary provides an intimate look at one traditional coppersmithing family’s struggle to make ends meet. Parents Vera and Christo have spent the equivalent of a week’s wage on clothing their young daughters Pepa and Rossi for the all-important day.

“If the girl is not a virgin when you sell her, they will call us whores, sluts and disgraceful women,” Vera said.

Her daughter Pepa agreed: “Kalaidzhi women must be virgins when they first marry. It is very important because a lot of money is given for virginity.”

The girls, along with their cousin Mima, admit the market is “scary” as “there’s a possibility parents could decide to give their daughter’s hand to a man who has more money, rather than one who is poor even if she loved the poor man”.

“There are some cases where a boy and a 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,” Mima said.

While neither girl actually makes a match, the parents are not unhappy. For Ms Larsson, making the film revealed a surprisingly complex set of emotions around women’s rights, family values and sex.

“I found it especially disturbing when I spent time with them alone and they talked about their fears of being married off to someone they don’t like, missing their families, and their secret dreams and aspirations that they couldn’t pursue,” she said.

However it also raised the prospect of how scary it would be to rebel against family convention.

“There is a lot of love and fun and warmth within the family, nothing is black and white. Most will chose a familiar discomfort zone rather than the lonely prospect of the absolute unknown.”

Mr Pamparov said while there were undoubtedly some cases of forced marriage for those in unfortunate positions, it was difficult to generalise about the ancient tradition in an orthodox community often separated by geography.

“The idea is to give young people the chance to meet the same age mate. The girl has a right to refuse. [As a man] I cannot ask you. I have to ask my parents to ask your parents and the elders are negotiating a price. At the same time, if I like you and you don’t care you can tell your parents,” he said.

“I’m not able to generalise because there are still some young people who are very traditional … but there are some young people who don’t care. [They will say], ‘I know she is not a virgin but I love her and I don’t care and I know that my mother won’t care because I love her.”

Watch the full documentary at youtube

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