The Kalderash Roma people construct the afterlife with concrete and African granite

A bed, wardrobe, cabinet, plasma TV set, DVD player and stereo player… Half a dozen suits with their labels still on, a cardboard box with 12-year old Chivas Regal, gold jewellery and a mobile phone... All that, “buried“ in a time capsule of reinforced concrete and African granite...

Text Yordan Todorov, photos Missirkov/Bogdanov, Yordan Todorov

The archaeologists of the future will find these and other artefacts when they decide to research the funeral rites of the Kalderash – one of the most conservative and enigmatic Roma communities in Bulgaria.
Known as “Serbian” or “Hungarian” Roma people, there are no more than 1 million Kalderash all over the world, and they form less than 2% of the Roma population in Bulgaria. They came to this country in ....

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