СТРУКТУРНИ ОСОБЕНОСТИ НА БЪЛГАРСКАТА ФОЛКЛОРНА РЕЛИГИОЗНОСТ: ГР. САМОКОВ И САМОКОВСКО
RELIGIOSITY: THE CASE STUDY OF THE TOWN OF SAMOKOV AND ITS REGION

Summary/Abstract: This text analyzes – from ethnological viewpoint – a relatively short period of the history of Bulgarian ethnos, and in particular of the citizens of the town of Samokov and Samokov region. This is the period between the end of Kurdzhali genocide and (the second decade of the nineteenth century) and the Liberation of Bulgaria through the Russian – Turkish War in 1877–1878. This was the period (about half of a century) when the the Bulgarian folk religiosity was developed in a form in which it was recorded in the twentieth century. The author discusses the following characteristics of the local religiosity: The Theotokos (Virgin Mary) rules “the town of the alive,” while St. Nicolas of Myra rules “the town of the dead.”In local churches, the icon of the patron of the church is placed on the iconostasis on the right side of the icon of Jesus Christ and not on the left side of the Theotokos in contrast to the usual arrangement of the icons on the iconostasis.An important element of the celebration of Easter is that the believers visit the cemeteries immediately after the priest announces, “Christ is Risen!” The grouping of the patrons of the churches in Samokov ethnoregion is clearly expressed.

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