СВАТБЕНИТЕ "ЗАСЕВКИ". ОПИТ ЗА СЕМАНТИЧЕН АНАЛИЗ
The wedding "zassevki". An attempt for a semantic analysis

Summary/Abstract: The study is devoted to a problem, already discussed in Bulgarian specialized literature: the semantics of the ritual preparation of wedding bread. The common basis between the previous analyses and the presented one here is the perception of bread kneading as an action, similar to the coitus and human conception, an action illustrating the fertility both in human society and in nature. This study remains in the scope of this most general idea, making an attempt of its own "identification" of the opposing elements in the common structure. First the simplest necessary scheme of bread kneading is examined: the one, represented by a sieve and a kneading trough. There are two groups of elements involved in the action: the first one includes the sieve, through which the flour passes and the kneading trough, where are put all the products, and where the kneading and the ripening of the bread takes place. All speculations allow to determine these elements as representing the feminine part notable for her statics and the possibilities to absorb. The second group of elements includes all products: flour, salt, water, leaven, representing the masculine part. Their correlations in Bulgarian folk culture are sought. Beside the masculine-feminine characteristics of the objects, the systems of the ritual characters, the actions, the space and time dimensions are also analysed. On the basis of all speculations in semantic perspective the supposition is made, that the sifting out of flour and the kneading of wedding bread duplicates the sexual intercourse of the young couple; the ready bread represents its result; the tearing to pieces of the bread - the birth of a child and in the same instance the beginning of a new cycle for the young family.

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