GOSTILITSA
OUTDOOR MUSEUM
On the main street in Gostilitsa, between the community centre and the mayor's office, you will see six display boards. Four of these are a historical timeline of Gostilitsa, one is about the Roman ruins at Diskoduratera, and the last one relates to the Gostilitsan dialect and humour (which is said to be 'hot, like a chilli seed'!
Below are photos of these boards with accompanying translations. (Please note that some of the 'humour' translations have been adapted to better convey the meaning of the joke).
HAVING TWINS
Baba Pena Dimkova sits a turkey on twenty eggs, but only two of them hatch, the others remain dormant. A neighbour asks her:
-Baba Penа, what happened with the turkey, has she hatched them?
"She hatched them, I mean how could she not, she even had twins," she replies with a laugh.
WORKMEN
Some Gostilitsans build a house in Dryanovo. A Dryanovian passes by and praises them:
-Hey, a very nice house you've done guys!
"Ha!" replied one of the workmen, " we make kids in the dark, so building a house in the daylight is nothing ..."
PROMISE
The nearly one hundred-year-old grandmother, Pena Dimkova, has not seen her grandson Kosio for several months. One day he returns from Sevlievo where he works and tells his grandmother:
-Hey, Grandma, we will die, without having seen each other because of work.
"Nuh-uh, Kosse, son, don't get upset, when you're dying I'll come and see you!" - Grandma Pena reassures him.
Chronicle of the village of Gostilitsa *
1430 In a Turkish document for the first time we see the name of the village of Gostilitsa, as a timar (feudal possession, title, land), given to Spahiya (a soldier, a fighter of the Ottoman army). The village had 55 houses - households and 3 widows houses (ie about 500-600 people) and brings to its ruler an income of 4000 akcheta(1). The village is recorded as a place of safe passage(2). The main occupation is woodcutting. The countryside Ruta and Kriva Starna were covered with oak and elm forests.
Originally, it was located in the area Lower Yurt(3) or Noikovitsa near Krivi Vir, but after the village was burned by the Turks, it moved to the Upper Yurt area and many of the families moved to other villages. The population worked in the fields of Turkish beys(4) from the surrounding Turkish villages. Sheep, goats, pigs, were raised along with other animals. They planted orchards, vineyards, and grew flax, hemp, cereals and beans, cabbage and other vegetables.
1618 The Tax Registry reports that the village of Gostilitsa is an administrative unit of the kaazata(5) Hotalich and pays a tax quota of 40(6) (ie, there are 40 men in the village, over 15 years of age).
1628 Information about the village in a Turkish tax register - the village paid a tax quote of 39 (ie there are 39 men over the age of 15 in the village).
1812, 1831, 1837 The plague does not bypass the village of Gostilitsa, the population leaves their homes and hides in the forests of Saridaa.
1836 The village numbers about 150-200, only Bulgarian families live here.
1841 The church "Virgin Mary" is built.
1846 The church is consecrated by the Metropolitan Neofit of Turnovo.
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* The data for the chronicle is taken from the book "Gostilitsa in the past and now" by the authors Ginka and Nikolay Dimkovi (1971) and archive funds of the State Archive - Gabrovo.
1 Silver coin used as the main currency in the Ottoman Empire.
2 A village in which the men of the enslaved population live, ensuring the safe passage of troops and caravans that are transported through dangerous places and passages. These guards had the right to carry weapons and were exempt from some taxes.
3 Wild place, courtyard.
4 Landowner, Moslem.
5 Administrative territorial unit of the Ottoman Empire.
6 Paid tax of the Ottoman Empire, collected from the non-Moslem population (from men over 15 years of age).
SPECIAL SORT
Guests come from Gabrovo to visit a Gostilitsan and he treats them with fine wine.
-What kind of variety is it? - asks one of the Gabrovians.
- From "1 + 100" - the host responds.
- It's the first time I've heard of such a variety. What does it stand for?
"Well, it's like this, it's special and it means one works, but one hundred drink!
1851 A two-storey school building was built, although schooling already started in the village in the 1930s. The school had four classrooms for about 35 students. The large number of children required 50 to 60 pupils to be taught in each class at the beginning of the 20th century.
1872-1874 Father Matei Preobrazhenski visited the village of Gostilitsa several times to preach national liberation.
1877/1878 During the Russo-Turkish Liberation War, the surrounding Turkish villages were massacred. Gostilitsans took possession of their estates, the house and the livestock, and stayed living in the village of Malko Yalare (present village of Slaveykovo) and the village of Malkochevo (present village of Burya).
1880 The census records Gostilitsa as having 2006 inhabitants.
1888 The bell tower is built for the church of the Virgin Mary. The main occupation of the men from the village of Gostilitsa after the Liberation was in construction - from St. George's Day to Dimitrovden they work in the country and abroad. Young girls and brides "go to Rumania(7)" in the villages of Tarnovo and Dobrudja. There are crafts and trades in the village: taylors, coopers, millers, waggoners, blacksmiths, halva sellers, etc., several groceries and many taverns.
1890-1905 Several new mills were built, replacing the old primitive water-mills (8).
1894 The foundations were laid for the community centre - a self-education society "Orach" was established in the village of Gostilitsa, which ceased activity in 1903.
1897 In the village a medical clinic opened.
1900 In the statistical census, the village of Gostilitsa had 1942 inhabitants.
1902 Construction of the Yantra River bridge began.
1902-1908 The village is provided with its first iron plow and its first steam driven threshing machine.
1910-1920 Gostilitsan people register several commercial companies, putty makers, oil factory, yarn combing, beekeeping and others.
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7 Seasonal migration of young girls and women to the villages of Tarnovo and Dobrudja for harvesting.
8 A small mill driven by water.
IT'S HIS DICK'S FAULT
Two Gostilitsan women are talking about a man who is not married.
"You're relatives," one begins, "why don't you make him marry, see how old he has gotten."
"Listen," replies the other, "how can I make him, if his dick doesn't make him...
PASSING OVER
An old Gostilitsan womaniser has a stroke and becomes unconscious. The neighbours hear and go to see him. They enter the ground floor room and stand silently. At that moment another female neighbour enters, approaches the patient, leans over him, and quietly begins to ask him by name whether he knows her.
"How can I not know you, woman," he replies, "Remember, I fucked you in the hemp fields."
"Shut up, shut up," said the woman in embarrassment, "he's passing over already and is raving now ..."
August 1911 Construction begins of a new school in a municipal place, the foundation stone is laid in September.
1912-1918 In the Balkan, Inter-Allied and First World Wars, the village loses 58 men - who died in battle from their wounds or cholera.
June 1, 1913 A strong earthquake destroys the entrance lobby and cracks the walls of the Virgin Mary church, and some of the houses in the village are destroyed.
November 26, 1913 The school is completed. It has nine classrooms and a theater hall, with a place to teach all children from the village and the region. It begins with the first junior high school class (present class 5).
September 1914 The second and third junior high school classes are opened in the school (nowadays 6-7 class).
September 1915 A girls' business (professional) school was opened.
June 7, 1921 A telegraph-post office is opened in the village, and is housed in the old church school.
January 1, 1923 The Credit Cooperative "Yantra" was established in Gostilitsa.
September 21, 1923 In the village there is a market for large and small livestock, the largest market in the region.
1930 After the Liberation, the number of displaced people from the village households is approximately 130. Most of them in the village of Osmo Gradishte, Pleven; village of Varbak, Shumen; Village of Makariopolsko, Targovishte; village of Byala cherkva, Pavlikeni; village of Dobromirka, Gabrovo; Village of Cherven, Rusensko and in the towns of Pavlikeni, Svishtov, Sevlievo, Gabrovo, Dryanovo and others.
1934 The municipality of Gostilitsa is amalgamated with the village of Malkochevo, the village of Kalommen and the village of Malko Yalare. The old school is renovated and the municipality is installed therein. The first veterinary worker in the village is appointed.
December 29, 1935 The Consumers' Cooperative Association "Sunrise" was founded in Gostilitsa and continued its activity as a Consumer Cooperative until March 1980.
1939 An additional agricultural school with a two-year training period is opened, it closes in 1949.
1942 The construction of the healthcare home was completed.
1944-1945 In the Second World War there were four casualties from the village of Gostilitsa.
January 1945 Electrification comes to Gostilitsa.
June 31, 1945 A maternity home is opened in the healthcare home.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A SOFIA MAN
A Gostilitsan man becomes the father-in-law of a Sofia man - at that time an exception for the village. The other Gostilitsans ask him once:
-What's he like, is he alright?
"He's alright," he replies, "a good, quiet person." He just has one fault, that when he comes here, he wants you to give him something, and when you go to visit him - you have to take him something...
IT SEEMS AS IF WOMEN GURGLE?
One of the well-known Gostilitsan womanisers falls dreadfully ill. His daughter-in-law harnesses the horses, spreads hay in the cart, and sets out to drive her father-in-law to Dryanovo to a doctor. As they come near the Yantra River, the sick man, as if he has been unconscious, opens his eyes and turns to his daughter-in-law:
-Daughter-in-law, stop here a moment.
-Why, Dad, do you feel unwell?
"Well, I'm sure I can hear women chatting in the melon patch.
-Really? Well since you're thinking about women, there's obviously nothing wrong with you!
1945 Establishment of the company "Agreement" Ltd. for the production of cotton fabrics, this existed until 1948.
August 31, 1947 A Water Syndicate "Romanitsa" was established in the village of Gostilitsa, registered on 13 February. 1948 (State Gazette, issue 93/1948), it existed until 24 January. 1953
1949 Construction began of the community centre building, which was completed in 1951 and officially opened in 1953.
1952 Founding a dairy.
1953 A half-day kindergarten is opened at the primary school.
1957 Major repairs to the Virgin Mary Church are carried out.
October 26, 1957 A constituent assembly was set up to create a Labour Cooperative Farm (Cooperative Farm).
1958 A music-hall satirical theatre group was established at the community centre.
1959 Winter School of Agriculture was opened and in 1964 it was transformed into a Professional Technical School for the repair of agricultural machinery, which existed until 1966.
1960 A new building for the Municipal People's Council was built (today's Gostilitsa Town Hall).
1961 A school workshop was built at the community centre.
1962 There is a society at the community centre.
1963 A full-day kindergarten is opened. A reservoir is constructed for the needs of the cooperative farms.
1965 In the census of the population, 827 people live in the village (men - 445, women - 382).
May 13, 1967 Official celebration of the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the community center in the village.
1968 The village is supplied with water. A building (modern for its time) with shops and a restaurant is built.
1971 A group for authentic folklore was created.
May 18, 1972 The stadium is opened.
1976 The exhibition "Gostilitsa Through The Centuries" takes place.
May 26, 1984 Celebration of the 25th anniversary of the creation of the music-hall satirical theatre group at the "Hristo Botev" municipal cultural centre..
DISKODURATERA
Two kilometers south of the village of Gostilitsa and one kilometer east of the village of Slaveikovo, the Yantra River forms a small fruitful valley surrounded by undulating uplands. There, between the mouth of two left tributaries - Uzunovo gully and the Malkoyalariskata creek - are located the ruins of the Roman fortress, Diskoderata. Today this place is known locally by the name 'Kaleto'.
Built and settled in the 2nd century, it was an important route junction, shopping center and large customs station during late antiquity. It was erected during the years 176-180 AD by order of the town of Augusta Trayana, during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD).
Diskoduratera was on a wide, convenient road leading from Nicopolis ad Istrum (an ancient Roman town, 3km from the village of Nikyup) to Augusta Trayana (today Stara Zagora), Constantinople and Asia Minor. It was a place where the merchants of Moesia (a Roman province bordering the Danube) and Thrace (another Roman province covering most of the rest of present day Bulgaria) met to exchange goods, it provided a place of rest to the eminent travellers, Romans and military detachments who continuously crossed between the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea and the Danube, and was a place where the Roman post changed its horses.
In the middle of the 3rd century, Diskoduratera was destroyed by the Goths during their march to Philippopolis (now the city of Plovdiv), leaving behind only fire and ashes. Goths were an East German people who played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the formation of Medieval Europe. Later, it was restored and reached its peak in the 4th to 5th centuries. After the middle of the 5th century, life in Diskoduratera came to an end.
During the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1185-1396 AD, after the uprising of Asen and Peter against Byzantine rule), Veliko Tarnovo became the capital of Bulgaria. Then an important medieval settlement and a comfortable overnight station arose in these places. From this stopping point for travellers - guests (in Bulgarian 'gosti') - is derived the current name of the village Gostilitsa.