ЖЕЛЕЗНИТЕ ЦЪРВУЛИ В ТРАДИЦИОННАТА НИ КУЛТУРА
THE IRON SANDALS IN OUR TRADITIONAL CULTURE

Summary/Abstract: In the museums of Prone and Blagoevgrad are kept several pairs of iron sandals, which were used in the end of 19 the and the first decades of 20 the C. Oral information from South West Bulgaria confirms their spread in everyday life, and that they were a reality in our traditional culture. They appear also in the theme themes in heroic epics, in mythical songs and stories. This fact arises the question about the cause and the time of their penetration in Bulgaria folklore tradition. in folklore texts the cultural hero wore iron sandals when he had to walk a long way and to fulfil definite purposes. They were used to reach the world of the dead and ancestors. According to folklore tradition iron sandals had been also a possession of God, or of his opposite - the devil, the second ruler of the "other" world. In Bulgaria folk world-wide, iron protects man from the spirits of the dead. It has apostolic and magical functions. Ism mythical songs, and especially in the tales, the theme of iron sandals is closely connected with the "smear" (the dragon). They were used to set the hero free from the smear or to fight him. In the same time in Bulgaria folk cosmogony the smear, the thunder bolt and the lightning were identical. This was obviously the reason why iron sandals were worn by those mythical heroes, who fought with the smear and finally overcame him. The iron sandals are connected also with the character of the Blacksmith, who had been often deified and could overcome the smear - the heavenly fir. Iron sandals are a remote resonance of a millenia tradition. Their roots are deep in past, when man acquired his initial knowledge of meteorite iron and had connected it with the image of the smear. These notions are common to many peoples and have developed in similar folklore motives.

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