„Урочасана невяста" (Към семантиката на женския образ в сватбата)
"A Bride Under a Spell" (More on the Semantics of the Female Character in the Wedding)

Summary/Abstract: Subject to study are the transformations taking place in the female character in the course of the wedding, which reflect the unfolding of the mythological story in the ritual. The changes have been followed on the basis of the ritual whereby after the bride has come to live with her bridegroom, she is taken to water. A few ballads, interpreting the same plot have also been used. A common content has been established of the folklore and ritual text. Going to the source of water, as one of the significant actions in the mythological aspect of the wedding, presupposes a separation of the newly-weds, who had been brought together by the marital ritual. It represents the birth and subsequent wedding of the bride, in which she is again a maiden. Different codes have been followed, expressing the idea of a change in the woman: a series of actions involving water: washing of the face and body, clothes washing, washing and braiding of the hair, etc. or actions which are the opposite of those performed at an earlier stage of the wedding: undressing, taking off the shoes, unveiling, breaking of the fast. But what has been followed above all is the system of the ritual personages taking part. The idea of the metamorphosis of the married woman into a marriageable maiden is associated with the spatial shift after the wedding outside of the home, where bride and bridegroom had come together, and can be traced in almost all post-marital rites and rituals.

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