За цветовете в българската народна песен. 2. Белнят и черният цвят
On Colours in the Bulgarian Folksong. 2. White and Black

Summary/Abstract: White has a leading position, black following it immediately, as far as the frequency of their use in the Bulgarian folksong is concerned. The article traces out the meanings of the two colours, their aesthetic role in the folksong such as it has reached our time, and an attempt is made at establishing their primary semantics in the remote past. The author considers the question about white and black as constant features of human beauty connected with an ideal which had been formed already in antiquity. Human face apart, the black colour has a negative sense, it is linked with death, crime and slavery. Some differences are observed as to the meanings of white in folklore and in medieval Christian literature. Further on, the author raises the question of the folksong’s influence, with regard to white and black, upon the new Bulgarian literature. Considering the different attitude of the peoples towards colours, she expresses the idea that a typical feature of the Bulgarian folksong is the presence of the white and the motley colours as a sign of beauty, joy and festiveness. The alternation of white and black in two verse lines has no symbolical sense, but an aesthetic one.

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