Епос и обред
Epos and Ritual

Summary/Abstract: Bearing in mind the specific place of epos in the ritual system, the author raises the question of the relationship between epos and ritual using limited material concerning the ‘epos-wedding’ relationship. The analysis of songs about hero’s weddings, which figure prominently in the Bulgarian epos, shows that during its historical development the epos has come to reflect the wedding. It included in its dimensions a new content and new semantics which it uses freely. The participants in rituals, the actions, time and space change the epic persons and make them topical, imparting to them a novelistic nature and rendering them specifically ritual. Observing its own regularities, the epos does not always take into account the ritual etiquette. By changing the ritual values the epos itself turns into a parody. As it began to reflect the wedding the epos was given a strong impetus in its development towards demythologization.

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