MACEDONIA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

When I first started doing this blog, I was really interested in my statistics. I decided to keep a list of the countries that viewed my blog. I’m kind of a nerd like that. I have a note in my iPhone where I keep an updated number of pageviews and a list of countries where at least one person has read my blog (ok, at least landed on the page. I don’t know if they actually read it or not.). I did get a hit from Macedonia, but I could never figure out why it had [FYROM] in brackets behind it. (Is it like CD-ROM?) But then I looked it up (thanks, Wikipedia) and found out it stood for Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia. But, why? (Hint: keep reading.) 

The name of Macedonia is kind of confusing. The neighboring country of Greece to the south has a region called Macedonia that once included the country of Macedonia. The word in and of itself is of Greek origin, meaning “tall” or “taper,” possibly in reference to the height of the people. 

Macedonia is a landlocked country located in southern Europe. It borders Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the east. The country is mountainous, and there are several rivers and lakes that dot this area. The summers are hot and dry, but the winters are fairly cold. It’s certainly colder the higher in the mountains you go. 

In ancient times, this area was originally the kingdom Paeonia. The Persians moved in during the 6^th century. Later, Philip II of Macedon —Alexander the Great’s father—took over the southern part of the region and Alexander the Great took over the rest of it. Then the Romans moved in and established the Province of Macedonia. The Slavs later began to settle into this area along with the Bulgars. The Byzantines invaded Bulgaria and proceeded to take over most of the Balkans, Macedonia included. The Bulgarian Empire rose to power during the 13^th century and took back the region. But a century later, it was passed back to the Byzantines and then it got handed off to the Serbian Empire. Eventually, it all fell under the reign of the Ottoman Empire. There were several movements during the 19^th century calling for more autonomy for Macedonia. After the Ottoman Empire broke up, the area was essentially divided between Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria; Macedonia was annexed to Serbia. However, this area was renamed as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (specific, but man, what a mouthful). It was later changed to Yugoslavia in 1929 (which is what I knew growing up). Greek and Bulgarian communists denied a free Macedonia; however, Macedonia was known as Vardar Macedonia back then and a special resolution acknowledged this separate nation and its own Macedonian language. There were a lot of struggles between different powers and parties, and it remained part of Socialist Yugoslavia until 1991 when Yugoslavia broke up. There have been some conflicts with ethnic Albanians living in Macedonia. Today, Macedonia is working toward gaining entry into the EU. 

Originally called Scupi when it was under Roman rule, the capital of Skopje is also Macedonia’s largest city. Located along the Vardar River in the northern part of the country, the city has roughly a half million residents. It’s located in the middle of several mountain ranges and surrounded by several lakes, rivers, and cave systems. Skopje serves as the nation’s capital for finance, government, media, and commerce. With several hospitals, universities, sports venues, theatres, museums, a nightlife scene, and several festivals held throughout the year, Skopje is every bit of a modern city. Mother Teresa was probably the city’s most famous resident. 

Since the mid-1990s, Macedonia has seen gradual, steady growth economically. The government has worked to fight against inflation and has experimented with a flat tax system in order to attract more foreign companies and investment. They have brought in some multinational companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Lear Corp, and Visteon Corp. However, even though these measures have proven moderately successful, Macedonia still has a really high unemployment rate at nearly 27%. Their main export is chemicals and other related products as well as machinery. Of the former Yugoslav countries, Macedonia has a much smaller economy in comparison to the others. Although they are less developed than other Balkan countries, Macedonia’s IT market has made significant increases, making it one of the fastest growing markets in this region.

Church of St. Clement of Ohrid, Skopje

About two-thirds of Macedonians follow Eastern Orthodoxy religion. Other Christian denominations and Jewish populations are also found here but make up a scant number of people. The remaining third of Macedonians are Muslim and are mostly of Albanian, Turk, or Romani ethnic origins. 

The official language is Macedonian, part of the South Slavic language family. Macedonian is actually closely related to Bulgarian and uses the Cyrillic script. However, because of Macedonia’s diverse ethnicity, there are several other languages spoken in areas where there are a large number of speakers (and in some cases, carry a co-official status in certain communities): Albanian, Turkish, Romani, Serbian, Bosnian, and Vlach.  

And finally what you’ve been waiting for: the TV Guide version of its naming dispute. When Yugoslavia broke up in 1991, officials wanted to call itself Macedonia. However, Greece held their hand up, saying it would be confusing because of the region in Greece of the same name. There are millions of people in Greece who identify themselves as Macedonians but are ethnically unrelated to the Slavic people living in Macedonia who also call themselves Macedonians. And they’ve gone round and round about the name. However, the UN had to call them something when they declared their independence. So, for right now, the compromise is Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, often shortened to Republic of Macedonia. Even their flags have been disputed. (Man, they can’t catch a break.) To make matters even stranger, Greece and Macedonia have even brought in Alexander the Great and Phillip of Macedon to argue who’s more ethnically tied to the name of Macedonia. The problem is that these arguments are stalling Macedonia’s application to the EU and NATO. So, regardless of who’s called what and who came from where back in antiquity, one thing for sure is that they all have great food. Perhaps they should just have dinner together and talk it out over a bottle of wine: in vino veritas.

Up next: art and literature

BULGARIA: THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE

Years ago, I had volunteered as a tutor in adult ESL classes held in a suburb just south of Indianapolis, and I had made many friends from all over the world. It always amazed me how many people from all over the world were here in the Indianapolis area. One of the students who sat at my table for a while was from Bulgaria, a country that the only thing I knew about it was that it was in Europe.

And I wasn’t exactly wrong. Bulgaria lies in southern Europe, but north of Greece and Turkey and next to the Black Sea. It’s considered part of the Balkans, and also borders Romania, Serbia, and Macedonia to the north and west respectively.  The Black Sea is actually an interesting body of water. There aren’t any high tides or low tides, leaving the water level fairly even.  It’s also one of the few places (and the largest) where the water is anoxic, meaning it’s depleted of oxygen (and basically dead underneath the top layer of water). So the creepy part is that when people have died in the numerous shipwrecks that have occurred over the centuries, their bodies will remain more or less intact since the rate of deterioration is extremely slow from lack of oxygen in the water at the bottom of the sea. Anyone want to go deep-sea diving?

Some of the oldest artifacts in the world have dated to Bulgaria, including the first Germanic language book (the Wulfila Bible from the 4^th century). The city of Plovdiv is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, dating back to around 6000 BC. The coastal city of Varna is the site where the oldest gold treasure was found.

The Bulgarian Empire has seen many transformations since the beginning, and given its proximity to Turkey was also part of the Ottoman Empire at one time as well. It wasn’t until after WWII, when Bulgaria changed from being a monarchy into a republic but was highly influenced by the Russian communist mode of government. With the collapse of communist Russia in the late 1980s, Bulgaria became its own free state and held its first democratic elections.

There are several theories as to the origin of the name Bulgaria. One is from the Bulgur peoples who originally inhabited in the area.  Another may be from a Turkish origin meaning “mixed” since they believe this to be a mixed race of people. Yet, another theory is that it may stem from a possible meaning of “people from the Bolg [Volga] River.” 

The country itself is mostly mountainous with a couple of ranges arching its way through the country. It’s also countered with a few plains areas as well, and has a very wide array of temperature changes in different areas of the country because of its landscape. Three main rivers cut their way across Bulgaria: the Iskar, the Struma and the Maritsa (this one made my daughter happy knowing there’s a river that almost sounds like her name).

Bulgaria is the fourth-largest producer of gold in Europe and the sixth-largest producer of coal. It’s also the world’s largest producer of perfumed essential oils such as lavender oil and rose oil. For years, I used oils rather than perfumes. But chances are if you have some perfume, lotion, body wash, etc. with a floral scent, the oil in it may have also likely originated from Bulgaria.

Even though Bulgaria declared itself a secular state, most of the people practice Orthodoxy, but you’ll find followers of all religions there. The official language and most-widely spoken language is Bulgarian which uses the Cyrillic alphabet (many years ago before I became a sage, I used to just call it Russian; I was sorely mistaken. While Russian does use the Cyrillic alphabet, so does 29 other languages. In fact, when Bulgaria joined the European Union, Cyrillic became the third official script of the EU, after Latin and Greek.)

The capital and largest city in Bulgaria is Sofia. (The city’s name is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable [SO-fee-a], as opposed to the women’s name [so-FEE-a]). Sofia has slightly more people than the Indianapolis metro area, about 1.2 million people. It’s known for its mineral and thermal springs (another reason why I’d love to vacation there). Sofia has many high-quality art museums making the visual arts scene a really popular attraction. They used to have a thriving film industry as well, and even though it’s waned in recent years, several large films have been partly filmed in and around Sofia, including The Expendables 2, Hitman, The Black Dahlia, and Conan the Barbarian.  They also have one of the largest IMAX theatres in Europe. (I just took my kids to see their first 3D movie at the IMAX last year. They loved it!) The city has been passed over three times for the Winter Olympics, but they did host the FIVB [men’s] Volleyball World League finals in 2012, which Bulgaria came in fourth. 

For not knowing much about this country, it has fascinated me right away with just this initial look. I found my recipes quickly, even though it was hard to narrow it down. Bulgarian cuisine has a lot of overtones from Greek and Turkish influences and is a culinary montage of southern Europe. In fact, up until the late 1980s, Bulgaria was the number two exporter of wine. (I’m definitely going to be taking a little tour to my favorite liquor store to see if I can find any.) So, brush up on your Cyrillic, grab some wine, and get ready for Bulgaria.

Up next: Holidays and Celebrations