Ritual Folk Songs



In Bulgarian folklore, there are songs that are performed only on special days of the year such as religious feasts or pagan holidays, and are known as ritual songs.
Primitive in sound, they usually have short melodies and a restricted vocal range, testifying to their ancient origin. Words and music in these songs are an integral part of ritual acts. Today, most of these songs have been forgotten because outside rituals, they lose their meaning.

Perhaps the biggest holiday of the year, Christmas was a period of performing many ancient rituals in Bulgaria in the past. Most often, songs at Christmas were performed by groups of men who walked during the night from house to house, wishing all families health and happiness. Let us listen next to one of the most popular Christmas folk songs in Bulgaria.

Next on the calendar came another ritual very popular in the past, the so-called “laduvane” or the singing of the rings. It brought excitement to young girls on the very first day of the New Year, or Saint Basil’s Day. On New Year’s Eve, girls took small pots of water, and placed inside bunches of wild geranium with their rings tied to it. On the following morning, they took the geranium branches out of the water and everyone kept silent to hear the luck of the ring.

On the first Saturday after the Sunday of Forgiveness (also known by Bulgarian Orthodox Christians as Cheesefare Sunday), people used to celebrate Saint Todor’s Day with festive horse races – a remnant of ancient pagan rituals. After the horse races, people gathered to celebrate in the home of the winner around richly laid tables and casks full of wine, singing festive songs.
Next, we offer a song performed on Saint Todor’s day, in the rendition of the female folk group from the village of Ovchartsi, near Kyustendil, in Western Bulgaria:

And onto the next holiday in the Bulgarian calendar – Saint Lazarus Day in springtime was the time of a jolly ritual performed by young girls and pervaded by song. It is the female counterpart to the groups of young boys singing during Christmas. On Saint Lazarus Day, young unmarried girls used to gather in groups to sing and dance together, thus showing to the community they were ready to get married. Similarly to the male groups of koledari at Christmas, girls on Saint Lazarus Day go round houses and sing songs wishing health, luck, love and family happiness.
Next on the program, a popular song performed on Saint Lazarus Day in Bulgaria. The singers are the female folk group from the village of Staro Selo, near Silistra.

Next on the festive calendar in the past, it was Saint George’s Day celebrated in late spring on May 6. This was the feast of farmers, shepherds, and young people in love. That is why the people used to say: “Easter is a nice holiday, but Saint George’s Day is even better”. The day was marked by plenty of rituals and songs telling about Saint George, the patron of herds and fields, about the picking of flowers at the break of dawn to decorate barns, and about swings tied to green trees.

We offer you next a performance of the female ensemble for folk songs from the village of Trebich near Sofia, with a song about caring Saint George who walks round the fields and looks after fieldworkers.

During the summer, Bulgarians performed many rituals for rain, stemming from old pagan beliefs according to which nature has to be begged for benevolence. One such ritual was known as Peperuda (Butterfly), with its name probably being based on the dance performed by the central figure in the ritual - a girl covered in green twigs and leaves, a symbolic reincarnation of nature that needed the invigorating water of rain. During the dry summer days, people in the village of Malomir, near Yambol, begged nature for rain with the song we offer you next, whose lyrics go like this: “A butterfly moves from house to house and begs God for a rich harvest – Oh God, we beg you, give us rain!

The most widespread ritual in the past was the ritual performed at weddings, which was not linked to any specific dates in the calendar. In the past, weddings took place during the autumn and winter season when fieldwork was over. Traditional Bulgarian weddings included a whole series of rituals, starting with pre-wedding rites such as the engagement, the kneading of the bread, the preparation of the bride, the shaving of the bridegroom, then came the rituals on the wedding day itself and after it. Each of these special moments of the wedding had its special group of songs.
Until the end of today’s program, we offer you two wedding folk songs.

Festive Costumes in Bulgarian folklore



In the same way as artists express themselves in their works, Bulgarian women in the past expressed their inner world via the decorations on their festive clothes. Many-coloured braids, embroidered and woven ornaments were an integral part of the traditional Bulgarian folk costumes, showing an aesthetic and the artistic outlook upon life. Both the ornaments and the separate garments were invested in the past with a sacred meaning.

In the past, each Bulgarian was supposed to have a set of festive clothes decorated in a special way. Shirts, tunics, full-bottomed tight-legged breeches, and aprons – these were always kept locked in chests and drawers for special occasions. In their everyday lives, our grandmothers and grandfathers observed strict rules in their clothing. Some of the male and female garments were one and the same. The shirt, white and with a red thread worn against bad luck, was an obligatory garment for both sexes. In some villages, shirts were made of red cloth and decorated with embroidery. Worn both as underwear and a top, the shirts differed in length and ornamentation. People thought that nobody should go out without wearing a shirt because otherwise they would be vulnerable to the influence of evil forces. The garment had a special significance in female clothing. According to folk beliefs, it was identified with the woman it belonged to. For this reason, the shirt in folk beliefs had a more important role than other garments. It was believed that if even one thread of yearn fell into the hands of a stranger, this could be used to do evil to the woman or her family. The head cloth, an obligatory accessory for married women, could also be susceptible to such magical rituals. That is why people used to lock their festive clothes in a special drawer or chest at home.

Bulgarians in the past believed that festive clothes should be taken out of the chests where they were kept only on special occasions. Wedding clothes were of utmost beauty. Bulgarian folk songs often depict scenes of girls wearing silken shirts and bright red head cloths. The wedding shirt also has a ritual and magical meaning. A common practice was that the bride would wear two shirts – a white one and a red one, both richly embroidered around the bosom and the sleeves. When the shirt is only one, it is most often white with red embroidery. The white colour symbolized the desire for happiness and family bliss. It is also an ancient symbol of the chastity of the future bride. The red colour was used to symbolize fertility, vitality and the abundance in life.
There is also a widespread legend telling of a girl with a magnificent shirt. At the festive round dance at the village square, she was asked where the beautiful silken dress she was wearing was from. She replied that it was a gift from the Mother of God. The girl used to take care of her child Jesus in the wood where his cradle was tied. In return, Virgin Mary gave her the exquisite shirt.
The next song we offer you is entitled The Maiden with the Magnificent Shirt:

Many-coloured, filigree laces and an incredible variety of symbolism – this is what we find in the embroidered and woven ornaments in traditional Bulgarian festive costumes. Of course, female clothes were much more richly decorated than those of men. From the designs sewn on the shirts and dresses people could decipher where the maid and her family came from, and not only that – they could very quickly see how clever and skilful she was.
Male festive clothes were also heavily embroidered. Male breeches were decorated with braids inter weaved in complicated ornaments. The clothes of all family members were sewn by the women using home-made cloths. From the moment they turned 16, young girls started preparing their trousseau – an important part of it being daily and festive garments. In different corners of the country, various views existed as to the number of festive and daily clothes that each bride had to take to her new home. A big importance was attributed to the embroideries believed to be able to chase evil forces away. Various ornaments with secret messages were also widely used. Some of the most popular images were those of stylized turtles, horses, horse riders, floral motifs, and others. People used to believe that they would ring them health, prosperity and God’s blessing.

Folk stories on the family

“The man is half a man, and the woman- half a woman. They roam the earth like that, until they meet and get married to make a whole person”, reads a short story from Northern Bulgaria. It will be no exaggeration to say that the notion of soul mates is present in different cultures. This edition of Folk Studio looks into Bulgarian fairy tales and sayings about the family and family life.

Today a lot of Bulgarians prefer cohabitation to marriage. According to sociologists, people choose cohabitation out of fear to create a long-term bond. Nevertheless, marriage has not lost its romantic touch.
“The family is an essential part of society”- this sentence is an invariable part of every Bulgarian wedding ceremony. It illustrates a contemporary understanding of the family and its social role.
In the past people did not have any choice. A marriage was inconceivable without the blessings of the young couple’s parents.
By tradition, the man has a most important role in the community. He was made by God first, therefore he is a mainstay of marriage. God entrusted him with cultivating the land, planting and mowing the fields, as well as cutting down trees for firewood. It is the man that builds the house. His work is so important that nobody should cross his way. A lot more duties has the man, which must not be performed by the woman, folk wisdom has it. “The woman should not work a man’s job because this is bad for the household”, people used to say in the past. “The man is head of the house, the woman is its soul”, a Bulgarian saying goes. Interestingly, it was men that would do religious rituals at home. Women participated mostly in birth and funeral ceremonies, as well as in rituals related to various illnesses.

“Rich is the man, who has a good woman by his side”, Bulgarian folk wisdom also says and adds “…since if you have a bad wife, you do not need enemies”. The faith in the power of the family and the oneness of the community were a major incentive for the strict observance of social roles. Although of secondary importance, the role of the woman was also essential. “A good woman is a gemstone”, old people used to say. The woman was responsible for making the food, maintaining the household and bringing up the children. Up until recently, as researchers say, the bread in Bulgarian villages was prepared by women alone.

A very interesting Bulgarian fairytale tells about a father who summoned his five sons before his death. He told them the following story: “Once upon a time there was an oak tree in the forest. One day a woodcutter went into the woods, chopped down the oak and carried it back home. He made good wooden boards out of it. In the autumn a cooper visited the woodcutter, bought the boards from him and made a big barrel. Every autumn he poured new and bubbling wine in the barrel and then sold it. Everything was going smoothly, while the barrel was whole. Once one of the barrel’s hoops broke and the staves got loose. The wine ran out and the whole barrel fell apart. The cooper’s children grabbed the hoops and rolled them down the streets, while the cooper’s wife burnt up the staves and bottoms of the nice barrel”. After finishing the story, the father said: “The barrel, my children, is the family, the hoops are the family members, the staves are consensus, and the wine is happiness and worthy life. As long as the family lives in agreement, life will be happy. A house whose members disagree with one another would rather be burnt away. Keep the barrel’s staves intact, my dear sons!”, the father concluded.
This fairytale illustrates how parents in the past tried to nurture in their children reverence and respect for the family. Today the story is included in many children’s books, but just for the record, it can also be found on the internet- the place where present-day children most often look for the answers of their questions.