Русия и развитието на българската фолклорна традиция
Russia and the Development of the Bulgarian Folklore Tradition

Summary/Abstract: Folk-songs about Russia and the Russo-Turkish wars, including the War of Liberation, form an important part of the Bulgarian people's traditional culture. So far, the attention of researchers has been chiefly attracted by songs showing the impact of concrete historical events. The author has set himself wider tasks: to analyze faith in Russia as a component of the Bulgarian national consciousness, and as an expression of a sense of ethnic kinship and of folkloric historical knowledge, on the basis of material taken from the whole folklore. The development of the ‘myth of the saviour’ is traced in its two versions: that of the hero who would return, and of the hero who would come from outside the country (Dyado Ivan); the personification of Russia herself on older mythical images of heroines; rendering current the socio-political idea of Russia's liberating role in the 19th century, and representing it in many genres.

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