Обредното предене в българската народна култура
Ritual spinning in Bulgarian folk culture

Summary/Abstract: The study is an attempt at semantic analysis of spinning as a ritual action and as a world outlook notion in the culture of the Bulgarians. Attention is focused on the principal elements of spinning: the distaff, the wool to be spun, the spindle and the thread. The information used as a basis for the study dates back from the mid-19th to the first decades of the 20th century. On the basis of the wedding rite of "spinning" it is concluded that spinning was interpreted as the sexual act, pregnancy and the birth of a child, whereby the distaff is the male side (phallus), while the wool (vulva) and the spindle (womb) symbolize the female side. The spun thread has several meanings: the first thread that is being spun by a man or by some male representative of the bridegroom's family is interpreted as the male semen which fertilizes; the winding of the thread around the spindle is compared to the development of the pregnancy; the filling of the spindle is identified with the end of the pregnancy; the unwinding of the thread and its winding into a ball symbolizes the birth of the child. The last thread that is unwound is identified with the placenta and the umbilical cord during childbirth. Thus the "spinning" in the Bulgarian wedding doubles semantically the mating and expresses the best wishes addressed to the bride to give birth to a child (many children). Other instances in the family rituals of the Bulgarians in which the same notion is detected are also demonstrated. Various practices and rites from the calendar and working rituals reveal a broader notion about spinning as a model of the creation of life, comprising not only man but also the vegetation (predominantly the wheat field and the other cultivated plants) and animals (mainly domesticated).

• Details
• Contents