Just A Little Welcome

Welcome my fellow explorers!

With this blog I am hoping to bring you into the life of a different culture. There will be lots of information for you to absorb.

Here are the topics that will be present

• Just a Little Introduction
• Just a Little History
• A Little Homeland of Moldova
• World of Gagauz  People
•  Cosmos of Gagauz  People
• Birds of the Gagauz People
• Moldova Sports (Extra Credit Post)
•  Gagauz Migration and Diaspora
• Food (Extra Credit)
• Cultural Survival of Gagauz People
• References
• Videos (Extra Credit Post)

I hope you enjoy all the interesting stuff you might have not known before.
Enjoy!

Just a Little Introduction

Gagauz people

Just to get a sense of what the Gagauz culture really is, you first need to know who they are right? The Gagauz people come from mostly southern Moldova but can also be found living in Romania and Bulgaria. They are a Turkic group which means, you guessed it, they speak Turkic. The Turkic language can be spoken in to different dialects, southern and central.

This first post is just to get a little snapshot of all the other information that will come in future blog post. Continuing on with some more information.

The culture is very important considering that is how one is shaped growing up, like a way of life. the Gagauz people were peasant farmers who raised sheep and grew grain. But that is not the only thing that they were known for, they also were famous for there white wines, yummm!

There clothing was interesting as well, women wore canvas shirts, sleeveless dresses, a smock, and large kerchief. In order to show wealth, women would wear lots of jewelry, sometimes even gold coins necklaces! As for the men, it wasn't as elaborate as the women, men wore a shirt, cloth pants, a a wide red sash. 

Fun Fact: The Gagauz people can even be found in the United States, Brazil, and Canada; having about 3,000 people living in theses areas.

Just a Little History

Lets start of with knowing how the Gagauz people came about. First you can find the culture living in Moldova (southern) and in Bulgaria (northeastern). What is very interesting about this culture is that the origins is kind of confusing, some say they are of Turkic nomadic tribes or have a Anatolian- steppe origin. In order to really figure out which origin is the right one, you would have to look about the chromosomes! This is interesting because it just shows how important knowing where you came from really is.

In the beginning of the 19th century, Gagauz people were leaving northeastern Bulgaria to Bessarabia because of political and religious controls that the Ottoman Turks had. Between 1820-1846, Russian Empire gave the Gagauz people land have help with finances to be able settle in Bessarabia which had been vacated by Nogai tribes. This was not the only place that they would be seen settled in, they also were found settled in villages that were belonged to boyars*. Because of where they were located, they were often called Bulgarian, Gagauz people also were found supporting schools and participating the national movement of Bulgarians.

On August 19, 1991, Gagauzia declared itself as independent.

Although in February 1994, President Mircea Snegur did not give the independence the Gaguaz people wanted, he did grant them a region in Moldova. In the same year, Moldova gave Gagauz people the right of self-determination!


* highest member of the feudal Bulgarian people.

A Little Homeland of Moldova

If you are traveling to Europe during anytime and make your way to Moldova you will certainly find a group of Gagauz people there. If you can not find Moldova, look between Ukraine and Romania.

Moldova is very close to the Black Sea which makes the climate amazing, with warm summers and mild winters doesn't get better than that!

If you visit and all you see are hills, then you are in the right place! Moldova consist of many many many hills. Its highest hill is Balanesti which is 430 meters high. You are probably thinking, so many hills so boring, but you're wrong! Each hill is different and that makes autumn look even more beautiful.




Throughout Moldova there is an abundance of rich culture from: music, circus, architecture, broadcasting and television, fine arts, and so much more! There is a lot to learn. Moldova has a total of 22 theaters that hold many different performances. If you are more of an art lover, there's also a lot of different art styles to absorb during your travels. Moldova does not only home the Gagauz culture, there is many other culture that call Moldova home, Gypsies included. There will be no dull moment during your travels.

If you still can't find a reason to visit such a beautiful place, here are some more reasons:

1. Great Hospitality: With many different cultures the vibe that the people give off are incredible. Guest get to stay in the "Big House".
2. You will come back and show off the amazing pictures you took during your vacation.
3. If you love food, then this is a place for you! Enhance your taste buds and taste all the different but great food Moldova has to offer.

If you want even more reasons just visit the following website: http://enjoymoldova.org/15-reasons-to-visit-moldova/

World of The Gagauz People

There is a lot going on in Moldova that is making it hard of the Gagauz people to be there. There has been and increasing level of poverty which results in having a never harder time to persevere their culture. With this increase in poverty, it has left a lot of people jobless and a heavy corruption in politics. Once living in Moldova, the Gagauz's had to leave and migrate to different areas to find employment.

Before all of the poverty, they relied heavily on agriculture. some of there popular exports are: wine/non-alcoholic beverages, sunflower oil, wool, leather and textiles.

In other news, in 2011 about 10 percent of Gagauz Autonomous Region of Moldova class failed their Romanian language and literature test. This just made the division people the Gagauz people and the rest of the people even bigger. Because of the poverty, like said above many Gagauz people had to leave their homeland in search for job; as a result with the move they wanted to keep traditions. Many students did not want to learn Romanian in fear of losing their culture. In other words, they choice their pride over anything. Many are seeing that they learning these new customs are critical in order to adapt to their surroundings.

Cosmos of the Gagauz People

If you were wondering what a cosmo is here is the defintion of it:  cosmo- a combining form meaning “world,” “universe,”

With that being said, lets talk about the cosmo of the Gagauz people.

What would it be to live in the life of a Gagauz person, with only two newspapers, radio, and television broadcasting you would think that it might get a little boring. But remember all that beautiful landscape Moldova has! In 1897 a census was taken and the data that was collected showed that the recent integration of Russian schools made little impact on the Gagauz society. Still the literacy level were 21% for men and less than 2% for women.

The Gagauz people were always at a disadvantage. With such high illiteracy rates it made schooling even harder. There were few schools that taught Gagauz language and even when those schools opened they were closed down soon after. With the introduction of Russian in the schooling system, Gagauz was forgotten and out the system altogether. It was hard to find teachers because of these rates, many of these teachers only had their high school diplomas and were unfit to teach higher level education.

Luckily in the past few years there has been a rise in in Gagauz language and in culture. With university's coming together, there has been a need for Gagauz-speaking teachers! All local media has been helping the rise in culture "renewal" with boarding folk traditions

Of course there is a few problems with the schools, the buildings are old and are poorly maintained. In 1988 the last school was built and since then was never completed and maintained. There is shortage of books for the students, even though Russia has offered to give books, the curriculum are different.

Other than having problem with the school system there is a bit of social problems as well. More than 30% of the students can not live at home because their parents have left to find jobs. Some times other relatives will take the children in if it is possible. Sadly there has been a rise of homeless children which is leading to a rise in drop-outs.

Fun Fact: The Gagauz people have there own written language but it is not considers a "real" language because it is not used in everyday life. Only a hand full of author still write in Gagauz

Moldova Sports (Extra Credit Post)

Trânta

Let's talk some sports. Like in most places, Moldova has a couple of sports that they play.

Trânta, is another word for wrestling which is the national sport for Moldova. Even though soccer is the most popular sport. Yes, it is the same way we play American soccer.

Another sport they could be found playing is Rugby. Recently the number of people wanting to play have doubled. During the European Nations Cup, about 10,000 people attended to watch the game.

In 2004, the Moldova President's cup introduced cycling races. Cycling races are bicycles racing, the first race was on May 13, 1868 at Parc de Saint-Cloud, Paris. It was won by James Moore, who was riding on a wooden bicycle with iron tires, crazy right?

Everyone loves football, right? Well football meaning soccer. When Moldova was given its independence from the USSR in 1992, it joined FIFA in 1994.

In 1994, Moldova was honored to be able to sent some of its top athletics to the Olympics. Ever is 1994, it has sent athletes to the games. In the Summer Olympics, it won 7 medals in 5 different sports.

Birds of the Gagauz

Birds! Such a interesting type of animal. There is so many different kinds of birds and with about 233 different species, bird watching must be very interesting in Moldova. 

These are two birds that are found out of the large list: 

1. Glossy Ibis: is a wading bird (also known as shorebirds).These birds are not small but not to big, medium size is a good way to describe them. Adult Glossy Ibis have reddish-brown bodies with shiny green wings.  Many think that they came about in the Old World, first living in Africa and South America, then going to North America and finally migrating to Europe. This breed of bird is considered to be nomadic and run in small packs. They find their good in shallow water and nest in freshwater, but sometimes find food in brackish wetlands. They tend to eat many different insets and small crustaceans. 

2. Common Snipe: Another bird that comes from the Old world, small and stocky. Found in Northern Europe and Northern Asia. These birds are found nesting in marshes, bogs, tundras, or wet meadows. These birds use their feathers to camouflage while they eat. When they are provoke there make a very loud noise that sounds like "scape scape" and fly in zig-zags so that they could confused their predators.





If you are interested in find out what other birds are found in Moldova here is a link: http://www.birdsofeurope.org/country.php?pageNum_master2country_vid=10&l=en&country=41

Gagauz Migration and Diaspora

Gagauz Flag

Where and when did the Gagauz people make their way to Moldova? Lets find out!

During the 1989 census there were approximately 200,000 Gagauz people living in the Soviet Union, about 153,000 of the 200,000 were living in the Moldavian SSR. December of 1994, they were claimed to be independent with in the Republic of Moldova, known as Gagauziya or Gagauz. In the territory there were 27 different villages. Between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the Gagauz community finally settled down from migrating from Bulgaria.

Before going to Moldova, you would of found Gagauz people living in the northeastern part of Bulgaria where you can still find some today but in smaller groups.

Today you can find Gagauz people living in the United States! About 3,000 are living here. You can learn a lot from meeting new people. Some living in Canada, so make your way there.

When Gagauz language was established in 1957, it was not put into the school curriculum until 1959-1962. It was not considered a "real" language because it was not used in everyday life or had a official use. Since it was spoken for quite some time, in places that were dominated by the Slavonic language.

Gagauz Alphabet

Food, Yum! (Extra Credit Post)

Everyone likes food, some more than other including myself.

Although Moldova does not necessarily have all the "healthy food" available they have a rich cuisine. But everyone can have a cheat day.

Pelmeni

Moldova has a lot of Russian influnces in the food they made, pickled fruits and vegetables are an example. 

A popular dish that Moldova has adopted from Russian is pelmeni, a Russian-style ravioli that has (stuffed meat). 

Sorpa

Not only does the cuisine have Russian influnces, it also has some Turkic spice to it. One of the most delicious meals you can find is the Gagauz sorpa, which is a spicy ram soup. 

A lot of the cultures food does constant of meat, making it hard for fellow vegetarians to have limited meals. Most of the fruits and vegetables are locally grown which might make them taste a little better. 

Other than food, Moldova producing some great wines and brandies. Red wines are called negru, white wines are called vin alb. 

If you want to experience a new type of cuisine, Moldova is definitely the place for you!

Cultural Survival of Gagauz People

Cultural survival can be difficult for any culture. In any cases, its the older generation that still are practicing the culture and the younger generation is "modernized". 

Considering that from 1946 to 1947 there was a famine that had affect Moldova, staring about 350,000, the Gagauz people were surely apart of that. All ready having a small population, this famine had killed about half of the Gagauz people in certain villages. 

Another part of the culture that is slowly getting lost is the language. Like I said in other post, Gagauz was not a "real" language. This language is mostly spoken in parts where the traditions are still practiced by a small group of people.  Luckily there are still books and other stuff that show this language and can still be studied. 

Traditionally, the Gagauz people were a sedentary society. This means that they had their own permanent towns and/or cities. With that being said, there was not many changed due to collectivization. Most of the citizens are bilingual with having Russian as the second language.  

Sometimes even the older generations have the knowledge of knowing many different languages, especially the women of the family. Since many had to leave and go away for work, the different languages steamed from there. 

Even if a Gagauz person were to marry a non-Gagauz person, that person will still know the Gagauz language because there is still evidence to study it.

References

You can find lots more information, but wheres all the websites I found my information from:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2008/12/origins-of-the-gagauz-people-a-turkish-dynamic/#.U07ThPldWGc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagauz_people#History
http://www.bestourism.com/medias/dfp/2723
http://www.yourtravel.ro/regiuni/Moldova
http://enjoymoldova.org/15-reasons-to-visit-moldova/
http://www.moldova.md/en/cultura/
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnists/hasan-kanbolat_297986-moldovas-gagauz-people-and-identity-issues.html
http://www.rferl.org/content/moldovas_gagauz_autonomous_region_struggles_to_find_a_common_language_with_chisinau/24285661.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gagauzia#Economy
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cosmo-
http://www.projects-abroad.ca/projects/teaching/moldova/?content=teaching-english-to-18-and-under/
http://www.birdsofeurope.org/country.php?pageNum_master2country_vid=10&l=en&country=41

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/gagauz.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Moldova

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_race

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova_at_the_Olympics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_Moldova
http://thefamilywithoutborders.com/moldovagagauzia-2010-06-15/

Books:
Gruyter, Mouton De. "Evidentials." Google Books. Lars Johanson Bo Utas, n.d. 28 Apr. 2014.

Kapalo, James A. "Text, Context and Performance." Google Books. N.p., n.d.  28 Apr. 2014.

OECD. "Reviews of National Policies for Education Reviews of National Policies for Education: South Eastern Europe 2003 Volume 2: FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia." Google Books. OECD, n.d.  28 Apr. 2014.

"Eastern Europe." Google Books. Lonely Planet, n.d. 02 May 2014.

Janse, Mark, and Sijmen Tol. Language Death and Language Maintenance: Theoretical, Practical, and Descriptive Approaches. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub., 2003. Print.

Videos !

Here are a couple of videos to show some of the Gagauz culture !

Above is the type of music they sing and the traditional clothing they would be found wearing. The singers are even sing in the Gagauz language which is amazing.

Here is another click, this one shorter, showing the translation of some fruit.