ABSTRACT
The resignation of Todor Zhivkov as president and leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party on November 10, 1989 is widely regarded as the turning point which placed Bulgaria on the road to change. "Family" and "household" are the two most outstanding and defining features of the patriarchal Bulgarian which gives him the moral right to regard himself as a human being. The continuous existence of the patriarchal community from the Middle Ages left a permanent trace on the spiritual make-up of the Bulgarian. The end of World War Two found the larger part of Bulgarian villagers as small owners, with a well developed sense of property, and firm attachment to the land and animals. Socialist collectivization also left permanent traces in the mentality of Bulgarian villagers. The forty years of the reality of socialist agriculture to a great extent, rid many people of their affinity for collectivism.
