Някои специфични черти на обредите за викане на дъжд cpeд българските преселници в Бесарабuя u Таврuя
Some Characteristic Features of the Rites for Calling Rain among the Bulgarian Immigrants in Bessarabia and Tauria

Summary/Abstract: Some specificities of the rites for calling rain are under analysis, which serve as a key to the genesis and the mythological meaning of this kind of ritual activity. The starting point of the analysis are the parallels between the rites for calling rain known as “German” and Saint Nicolaus, carried out at various semantic and functional levels: the place of the rite in the calendar; certain references to the name of the saint in the “Peperuda” ritual songs; the identification of the anthropomorphic “German” figure, made out of mud, with the saint. On that ground “German” is treated as a hypostasis of the mythical dragon, while the ritual practice connected with him described in terms of an inductive magic, representing certain moments of the initial myth. The author reveals the relation of synonymy between the different demonstrations of the anthropomorphic figure, as well as of the various calendar rites it is connected with at one place or another.

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