Сватбени обичаи в средновековна България
Wedding customs in medieval Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the available information reflecting the wedding customs in medieval Bulgaria. With examples from real events reflected in the sources, it sheds light on the tradition of arranging marriages, which led to a wedding between a man and a woman who had never seen each other before. The study reveals the ways in which the two future newlyweds gathered to perform wedding rituals, either where the future groom lived or where the future bride lived. The scarce data, mostly related to the weddings of the highest officials in the tsardom, show that most often the future bride was sent to the place where the future groom lived, and after her arrival the wedding rites were performed. Less often, the groom went to where his future bride lived; the two took part in the nuptials and only then went to the groom’s home. The author raises the question of whether the rank of the future spouses in any way determined the choice of wedding venue. The article traces the information about the church ritual performed during the marriage of the persons whose weddings found a place in the sources, as well as about the way in which this important event in the life of a person was celebrated. The article is rather a request for a further in-depth study of the issues raised in it.

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