Погребални и поменни елементи във великденските песни
Funeral and Memorial Elements in the Easter Songs

Summary/Abstract: When Easter songs are analyzed the contrast between the meaning of the Christian feast and the contents of the songs accompanying it strikes one’s impression. This discrepancy has drawn the attention of Peter Dinekov. He states that the Christian Easter rituals formed a stratum upon another layer of rites “connected with the belief in fairies, dragons and she-dragons, which carried away beautiful maidens and handsome young men, and which are often the personification of evil elements and diseases”. Our study of Bulgarian funeral laments and of our people’s musical tradition in memorial services incited us to parallel a number of Easter songs to funeral laments and, more particularly, to memorial songs. Essentially important elements of the Easter ritualism stand very close to basic elements of the funeral and memorial rites. The funeral ritualism – as a whole, or through some of its clear components – serves as a model, a pattern for the memorial rituals and all the remaining rites related to death. The component parts of these patterns turn, in the course of their development, into symbols of funeral acts. The funeral and memorial rites, as well as the other rituals of the same meaning are pagan, pre-Christian in their substance. Due to their direct contact with the Christian church and religion the funeral and memorial rites underwent some changes with view to the Christian canon. The development of these rites, the distortion and the decline of some components went on to a still greater extent under the influence of the developing moral standards. The line of development of rites, which make use of the pattern of funeral rituals – such as German, Easter, Suha Rusa, Mara Lishanka, etc., – is more peculiar. Although sometimes closely woven into Christian feasts (Easter), they retain some basic components taken over from the funeral ritualism, which have died out of the funeral rites of the people. This gives us grounds to assume that certain elements which are found in present-day Easter festivities, in Suha Rusa, etc., must also have existed once in the funeral, respectively memorial rites – e. g. some ritual dances, the creation of songs of lament, etc. Our observations indicate that a number of spring rites bear the characteristic of funeral or memorial rites. The culmination in this ritualism is achieved in the Easter custom. Strong features of commemorative activity could also be traced in the St. Lazar’s Day customs (songs of deceased young people, singing and dancing in the graveyard). The close link of the Easter customs to funeral and memorial ritualism is, in our opinion, revealed by the hundreds of Easter folksongs, which are performed to the rhythm of the easy Easter horo, for the most part in a slow or moderate tune of a nostalgic character, and relate mostly of the death or illness of young people.

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