Spring Calendar Ritual Folklore of the Southern Bessarabia Bulgarians: Features of Existence

Abstract

The article deals with the peculiarities of the ritual folklore in spring calendar of the Southern
Bessarabia Bulgarians. The focus is on the historical and genetic features of their folk tradition.
Within the limits of scientific research the most widespread and at the same time most typical for
residents of the villages of Southern Bessarabia is considered the ritual of the spring cycle of the
national calendar: «Baba Marta», «Lazarovden (Lazarnitsa)» and «Pepperuda». The material for
studying folk traditions is presented by the folk records made during field research in the Bulgarian
villages of Bessarabia and Bulgaria.
During the study of Bessarabian Bulgarians folk -song tradition, the semantic and functional
features of the genre palette of spring rituals were clarified. In Lasar folk songs an interesting floral
symbolism (whale, trendafil, lure, hail, glade, wheat) is presented. The Bulgarian «Pepperuda»
represents the archaic nature of the rite of rain-making by means of imitative magic acts and special
vocal songs. A comparative analysis of the main elements of folk ceremonies from Bulgarians of the
Bessarabian population with a similar rite of Bulgarians in the motherland testified to the
commonality of motifs and national symbols. The spring calendar ritual reconstructs the ancient folk
processes of forming the national identity of the Bulgarian ethnic group.