28 October 2008 | The three most emblematic Bulgarian symbols for foreigners living in the country are the martenista – the red-and-white thread charms exchanged in March; a misty morning in the Rodopi Mountains and mutri - the thick-necked mafia guys, according to the recently announced results of a poll.

The poll was part of a four-month-long campaign organised by the English-language monthly Bulgarian magazine Vagabond. It was started in July, soon after the completion of a different campaign, backed by business and state institutions, which encouraged Bulgarians to elect a symbol of their country.

As BalkanTravellers.com reported in January and July that campaign ended with the selection of the Madara Horseman as Bulgaria’s symbol.

Vagabond’s campaign asked participants in the poll to chose among 10 suggestions for an alternative symbol of Bulgaria, which included: the martenitsa – the red-and-white charms that people exchange at the beginning of spring; pretty girls in sexy attire; mutri – who, as defined by Vagabond, are “beefy boys with buzz cuts and expensive cars [who] are the ultimate embodiment of post-Communist Bulgaria”; fancy cars sharing the road with donkey carts; rakiya and cigarette smoke; stray dogs; a misty morning in the Rodopi Mountains; overbuilding; central Sofia's cosmopolitanism; and the Bulgarian expression ey sega –meaning ‘In a bit now’ which, according to the organisers “epitomises Bulgarians’ highly elastic concept of time – it can mean anywhere from now until eternity.”

According to the alternative campaign’s organisers, 1,229 people took part in the online poll. Among them were both foreigners and Bulgarians who live in Bulgaria and abroad.

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