Дяволът. Опит за реконструкция на фолклорния образ
The Devil. An Attempt at Reconstruction of the Folk Image

Author(s): Borislava Petkova
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences, Customs / Folklore, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology
Published by: Пловдивски университет »Паисий Хилендарски«
Keywords: devil; Bulgarian folklore; dualism; Bogomilism; apocryphal literature; vernacular Orthodox Christianity
Summary/Abstract: The monograph is an interdisciplinary study aimed at clarifying the genesis, transformations, and specific dimensions of the image of evil in Bulgarian traditional culture. At the center of the scholarly interest is the devil as an emanation of supreme evil, examined through the prism of the so-called “vernacular Orthodox Christianity” – a complex phenomenon arising from the interaction between canonical religious structures and the folkloric worldview. The first chapter of the work analyzes the “grand picture of the world,” tracing the roots of dualistic representations that preceded and accompanied Bogomilism. The author explores how dualistic teachings, apocryphal literature, and Byzantine cultural influences intertwined to lay the foundations of folkloric perceptions of the devil. Special attention is paid to the Bogomil conception of the devil as a demiurge and a rival to God, which directly influenced folk legends. The second chapter offers a detailed reconstruction of the folkloric image through an analysis of over 100 texts from narrative folklore. The study examines bodily forms (anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, etc.), names, habitats, and the functions of the devil. The analysis reveals an ambivalent image: from a fearsome rival of the Creator and lord of Hell to the “stupid devil,” who is often outwitted by humans in the context of everyday life. The research proves that in the folkloric environment, the devil is not merely a metaphysical evil, but a character who follows the rules of the society and often appears as a mirrored, albeit inverted, image of the human.

• Details
• Contents