Представи за „другия" в българския песенен фолклор
Character of "the Other" in Bulgarian Folk Songs

Summary/Abstract: Analysing Bulgarian folk songs on most diverse subjects, dealing with variant young men and "haidout" rebels, on historical family, work, love and other topics created mostly in the period of Ottoman domination, the author presents the image of "the other", as seen through the eyes of the folk singer. The ethno-religious sensitivity, exacerbated in that period, provoked the forma¬tion of a negative portrait of "the person with another faith" (not a Christian). Fut¬ting a sign of equality between the ethnic and religious affiliation, the Bulgarians con¬sidered the Moslems (Turks, Arabs, Tartars, Gypsies) and the Jews to be "the oth¬ers". In the polarised way of assessement, inherent in the folkloric way of tninking, tnese have been described as oppressors, enslavers and abductors. In opposition to the "pure" = Christian, "white" = handsome and "ruddy" = healthy Bulgarian, the one from another faith is "black" ("sallow"), ugly and well-neigh demonic in appear¬ance. The product of a specific historical reality, above all, this negative character is not an expression of xenophobia, but a natural reaction of a people who had lost their freedom.

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