Christmas Folk Songs and Dances from Bulgaria

In course of time, religion came with its rites invoking the aid of good spirits which were even more powerful than the bad spirits, and thus for the time being tempered the agony of fears. Paul Harris

You may be wondering...what do evil spirits have to to with Christmas? Read more and find out!

Today's post will feature Christmas songs and dances from Bulgaria. These videos will put you in a festive mood.

In Bulgaria, the word for Christmas is Koleda. It is one of the most important holidays on the Eastern Orthodox calendar. Although it is a religious holiday, pagan elements (such as the rituals to drive away evil spirits) co-exist harmoniously with the religious ones.

The first video of a children's group is really cute, with several boys singing and playing on traditional instruments (gadulka, tambura and drum). Their teacher must be so proud :)



More Christmas songs, but the setting here is not in synch with the season, except for the hats on these guys. What I find odd here are the flowery curtains. Where are the Christmas trees and decorations? Maybe they are dreaming of spring in the middle of winter.



In Bulgarian tradition the men do the singing and dancing at Christmastime. Groups of men (Koledari) go from house to house and sing (this takes place in the smaller towns and villages) and the the hosts at each home give them food and drink. In some respects it is like the Puerto Rican parranda, which I wrote about in one of last year's posts (the link to it is at the end of this one).

Now it's time for some pagan rituals which involve the driving out of evil spirits.

Back in the old days people believed that the sun disappeared around the time of the winter solstice and that scaring the evil spirits would bring it back, which is why the Surva ceremonies were held during the time between the winter solstice and the last day of December. Here are some masked men who intimidate with looks alone. When a bunch of them play the zurna  (a double-reed oboe like instrument) and the drums, the noise is loud enough to scare away any evil spirit who dares to get close.



For more on Surva, read: http://www.behance.net/gallery/Bulgarian-Surva/1126125

Cbristmas would not be Christmas without dancing. These Koledari begin with a rachenitsa (national dance of Bulgaria) then go into a buenek (walking dance). I posted something not too long ago about folk ensembles named Dunav, this is another group with the same name.



A big thank you to everyone who stopped by and a Merry Christmas to all!

If you enjoyed this you may also like A Bulgarican Christmas, a cross cultural comparision of Christmas traditions (this includes an old Sesame Street video with Oscar the Grouch!)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/12/bulgarican-christmas-cross-cultural.html

Dreaming of Spring in the Middle of Winter (if you like flowers and folklore you will love this one.)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/01/dreaming-of-spring-in-middle-of-winter.html

The River of Many Names Part 3: Folk Ensembles Named Dunav (there are lots of them!)

http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2011/10/river-of-many-names-part-3-folk.html


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The Moon, the Stars and the Sun...a look at Celestial Objects in Bulgarian Folklore

(photo from Wikipedia commons)

Bulgarians are really into outer space judging from the number of references in their folklore about the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. Here's a glimpse into their fascination with heavenly objects in folk songs and folk music.

Zornitsa means morning star and probably refers to the planet Venus. Although Venus is technically a planet, it looks like a star and is one of the brightest objects (after the moon) in the predawn/evening sky. (Venus can only be seen two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset). Zornitsa is a popular female name, which is most likely given to girls born just before sunrise. The morning star must be something really special to the Bulgarians because there are so many folk ensembles with that name. Here's Zornitsa, from Sofia, performing at a festival in Luxembourg:



This beautiful song is Izgrejla e Mesechinka (the moon has risen). The moon is often seen as a feminine object; if you know a language in which nouns are considered masculine or feminine, for example, Spanish, the moon is feminine (la luna). What's really unique about this version of Izgrejla e Mesechinka is that there's only one female singer in the group, and it gives this "feminine" song an interesting masculine quality.



Fire rituals were used in the old days, before Christianity, to summon the sun back around the time of the winter solstice and to chase away evil spirits. Although modern people know that the the sun will eventually triumph over winter, the Surva celebrations are held in Bulgaria every year. Which is a good thing, because if they weren't, everyone would probably freeze to death :)

This video, depicting another ritual which takes place shortly before Lent, gives a new meaning to the term "fire dancing," and the brass band music accompanying the dancers is loud enough to wake the dead. That and the bonfires will certainly keep those evil spirits away, especially the cold ones that bring long, snowy winters. Lent falls at the very end of winter, and is the start of the 40 day fasting season before Easter.



For more on the Shrovetide (pre-lenten) ritual, read:

http://bnr.bg/Audio.aspx?lang=1033#http://bnr.bg/sites/en/Lifestyle/Folklore/Pages/2602Shrovetide(firstSundaybeforeLent).aspx

For more on the sun in Bulgarian folklore, here's a link to a broadcast from the Bulgarian National Radio.

http://bnr.bg/sites/en/Lifestyle/Folklore/Pages/0906folkloreslunze.aspx

For more on the Bulgarian connection with outer space, read:
http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/03/outer-space-bulgarian-connection-we-are.html

For the Bulgarian take on astrology and folklore read:

http://bnr.bg/sites/en/Lifestyle/Folklore/Pages/0504Folkloreastrologyandnumerology.aspx


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Some Interesting New Year Rituals and More Cross-Cultural Celebrations

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(photo from Wikipedia)

Today's post will be about some interesting New Year rituals.

In Bulgaria, the New Year is welcomed with a ritual called Surva. According to the Bulgarian National Radio website, "very early in the morning on 1 Jan. boys (survakari) tour the community with best wishes for the New Year. They use decorated cornel twigs gently beating neighbors on their backs, for the sake of health, endurance and prosperity."

The noise and the cowbells in this video serve to frighten away the evil spirits and the fire symbolizes the return of the sun in this very noisy Surva celebration. The fun doesn't end on New Year's Eve, at least not in Bulgaria!



Jumping into a frigid body of water in January seems to be the thing to do to stave off the boredom of winter, and in my humble opinion, you have to be either drunk or out of your mind to think about it. If you live in New England, like I do, the ocean is freezing cold even in mid-July, and I've compared it to taking the Kneipp Cure.

Sebastian Kneipp, a monk from Germany, was one of the first to popularize the cold water treatment. He claimed it cured him of tuberculosis, which was a very common ailment in those days. He may have been on to something. http://www.kisthydrotherapy.com/cms/history.php

The Polar Bear Club, founded over 100 years ago in Coney Island, New York, was one of the first organizations to begin the New Year by taking a dip in the icy ocean. Any hangovers from the previous night will certainly be obliterated in that 38 degree water.



For more on the Polar Bear Club, read: http://www.polarbearclub.org/

The Christian holiday of Epiphany falls on January 6th. In Latin America, Epiphany is Three Kings Day. It is said that this on this day the Kings arrived at the manger of the infant Jesus and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Three Kings Day celebrations involve lots of singing and dancing as you can see in this video from Puerto Rico.



Epiphany takes on an interesting twist in Eastern Europe. There, the focus is more on commemorating the baptism of Jesus. Another name for the holiday is St. Jordan's Day, and it involves a group of men plunging into freezing cold water to retrieve a cross thrown into it by a priest. This custom is practiced by those of the Eastern Orthodox faith, which is the predominant religion the Balkans and in Russia. In Russia, where lakes and rivers often freeze solid, a hole will be cut into the ice.

The cross throwing ritual accomplishes two purposes: the first one is to bless and purify the water, the second is for health and good luck, especially to the person who retrieves it. Here's a group of men (notice that all the participants are male) taking a dive into the icy Danube near the town of Svishtov. Snow flurries fall from the sky and the audience on the riverbank is bundled up in heavy winter coats.



In this clip from a news program, a bunch of people dance in the Tundzha River and several men play the gaida!  Either they have been endowed with supernatural powers that overcome the effect of frigid water, or they have been hitting the rakia :)



For more about water in Bulgarian folklore read: http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/03/bulgarian-fascination-with-water.html

For more cross cultural celebrations read:http://katleyplanetbg.blogspot.com/2010/12/bulgarican-christmas-cross-cultural.html

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.