Notes on the funeral rites of the Bulgarians and Romanians: tree in rituals and mythological ideas associated with death
Notes on the funeral rites of the Bulgarians and Romanians: tree in rituals and mythological ideas associated with death

Summary/Abstract: The article tells about some mythological ideas and ritual actions related to the role of trees in the funeral ritesof the Bulgarians and Romanians in order to identity the general and the special. The information provided comes mainly from those territories, where Bulgarians and Romanianslive nearby – the border areas of northwesternBulgaria and eastern Serbia (Timok Valley), where, alongwith Bulgarians and Serbs, there is a fairly large Romanian-speaking population, Oltenia, Dobrogea etc. Mythological ideas, ritual actions and folklore texts of Bulgariansand Romanians associated with death and burial, in which trees are present, demonstrate a number of common features. The list of trees associated with death in folk beliefs is also largely common – it includes spruce, poplar walnut,various fruit trees, etc. The presence of trees in funeralrites, as already stated, is noted not only among Bulgarians and Romanians, but also among some other peoples of the Carpato-Balkan region – in particular, among the Serbs and the Ukrainian Hutsuls. It can be assumed that all of thelisted Slavic peoples borrowed this ritual reality from the Romanians, but this issue requires additional study. The traditional culture of Bulgarians and Romanians also hasin common the metaphorical idea of death as a wedding(this idea is also found among other peoples of the region).

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