Goats In The Rhodopes
Goats are still the basis for life in many Rhodope communities. Every family owns several, which are entrusted to the village goatherd, or manzardzhiya . Their milk is drunk or turned into yoghurt and cheese, which together with salted goat's meat ( pastarma ) forms the villagers' wintertime staple; goats' hair is woven into rugs which can last for eighty years; and their skin can be made into everything from wine-sacks and sandals to bagpipes ( gaidi ). During the Ottoman occupation, when Bulgarians were forbidden to carry arms, goats' horns served as daggers, and many of the country's most famous haiduks (including the female outlaw Rumena Voivoda) started their careers as goatherds.
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