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| Residents of Mandrica dressed in traditional clothing |
Such is also Mandrica, a village in Bulgaria, which was founded by the Albanians in 1636.
In recent days this village was visited by the Ambassadors of Albania and Kosovo, Donika Hoxha and Edon Cana.
They have met the Albanian-speaking village ladies and talk with them in Albanian.
Mandrica is a village on the southern border of Bulgaria, part of the Ivaylovgrad district of Haskovo province. It is one of the rarest Albanian villages in Bulgaria. The population of this village in 2006 was 75 inhabitants.
Mandrica is located on the right bank of the Bella Reka River at the easternmost point of the Rhodope Mountains 15 kilometers south of Ivaylovgrad and two kilometers from the Lluda Reka River, which at the same time forms the Bulgarian-Greek border line.
Little History of the Albanian Village
The Mandriva village was created in 1636 by some Albanian Orthodox herdsmen who supplied the Ottoman army with dairy products. They were allowed to take a piece of land and not pay taxes. The majority of Albanians came to the XVIII century from the outskirts of Korça and in the XIX century from the Suli region, which is located in Greece today. Residents guarded their national clothing until the 19th century when the jacket was replaced by the Thracian pants, while women's clothing were preserved until the time of mass emigration to Greece.
In the 19th century, Mandrica was a small Albanian town in the Dimotka battalion. In 1873 there was a residence of 250 houses, with about 1080 Albanian residents. In 1908 Greek sources called the population of 3500 people as "Albanian speaking Greeks, most of whom spoke Greek as well." The main occupations were the growth of silk, tobacco cultivation, handicrafts and trade. The village had three Greek educational institutions: a school for boys, a school for girls and a kindergarten.