ABSTRACT
In the 1930s, life during winter in a Bulgarian village appeared to have remained unchanged since time immemorial. This is how the American ethnologist Irwin Sanders described it:
One ordinary day followed another. Every morning the water buffalo had to be groomed until they shone; the oxen had to be cleaned after the night in the dirty stall; these, as well as the sheep, had to be fed. […] At noon they [the men] plodded home to a lunch of beans, looked after the cattle once more, and gave commands to their womenfolk. The rest of the day was spent at thinking and talking, interspersed with long, easy silences. […] Slow motion was characteristic of Dragalevtsy life in general, but especially of the bodily movements of the people.
