"Myth is a comprehension of the world, an emotional take on its phenomena, but it is by no means a genre of verbal art. Myth is a fact of worldview that can be given a different form - song, action, story, story, calling. "And one more important thing:" Every mythological plot opposes the non-mythological as "sacred" to "secular" … Myth is a matter of faith because it cannot be logically verified. "
The great specialist in the history of the Ancient East IM Dyakonov gives these key definitions of mythology and myth-making. The last sentence is too important because we know what speculation the character of each myth can generate. For example, a Bulgarian folk song dedicated to the Clear Sun. Suggestions are sought, and then there is dispute - whether the mythological hero, in this case the Clear Sun, is a character borrowed from Thracian / Greek, Slavic, Proto-Bulgarian and other mythologies.
On the basis of the "intent" origin of the duty, it is concluded that the holders of the duties (the Bulgarians) are actually the direct heirs of some other "peoples", etc. Therefore it is good to emphasize once again what Dyakonov wrote - the myth is gone how to check logically, it is trusted.
The curious thing about myth is what it says, not where it comes from, and not so much its affiliation needs to be clarified. Following the statement of I. Kant, the myth is "something-in-itself". It is important in and of itself. Moreover, it is known that historical thinking is opposed to mythological. Therefore, the use of historical approaches in the study of mythology would be naive. Conversely, mythological research into the acquisition of history knowledge.
It is true that today some people try to use mythology to explain history. They naively believe that along the path of folk art and various mythological references they will prove important things about Bulgarian history and "rewrite" it (and without reading what they want to re-write). They believe that history can be restored on the basis of mythology and in the context of all archaeological excavations conducted throughout the world and in our country for more than a hundred years. So, in order to gain knowledge of history (of the Proto-Bulgarians), they think, we need to know the different customs, seamstresses, folk songs, etc., and that we have no concept of the material culture in history (of the Proto-Bulgarians), the development and character of the various archeological cultures does not bother us in the least (it is not so important).
Of course, this is a neo-romantic view of history. This view dates from the 18 century, when archeology was still lacking and many historical sources had not yet been searched. At that time, past events were restored mainly on the basis of folk art, folk customs and linguistic speculation (the exact same approach is characteristic today among non-specialists), due to the absence of whole sciences (archeology, epigraphy, etc.). this view means that he lacks schooling and professionalism. Such a person's understanding of scientific knowledge was "frozen" somewhere in the 18 century.
When we talk about myth-making in the Bulgarian lands, of course, we are referring to Bulgarian myths. Not Greek, Thracian, Slavic or Proto-Bulgarian, but Bulgarian. Among the most curious Bulgarian mythological characters we should highlight those of the so-called. "Youth epic." Mythical Bulgarian heroes enjoy a great deal of attention in our folk art. We will mention a little more about Dan-Bogdan and Good Good Hero. They are among the virtuous mythological characters. Among the bad ones, the "mischief" and the evil doers, are Vida Samovila, Plague Moria, Serpent Goryanin, Yana Zmeitsa, Marko Kupets and others.
What are the perceptions of the Bulgarian people about youth? How did he hope his brave leaders and heroes looked?
We can see this in the mythological images of the heroes mentioned. Ancho Kaloyanov writes about Good Good Hero. "Most often the Good One is the magic hunter who chases Surya deer down the beautiful flat Wallachia. And he himself is of the ghoul; the land and the mother associate it with the notions of the Slavic god Vlas, the patron saint of flocks and cattle. Its chthonic nature, as a deity of the underworld, also reveals the epithets of Latin and Kara (Black) Good. (…) Thinking as a young man, He is a good rider. (…) And Wallachia, where it passes over the good hero with his good horse, as a flat and fair land, pasture, is actually the land of gods and dead ancestors.
In Chiprovtsi's desperation, the good man is present in the world beyond: "The bad guys said to the mother of God: “We went to an empty forest, sheep don't bleed, goats don't scream, lambs don't bleed, girls oro don't play. There is a good young man with a crow horse, with a blue saddle, with a hood, with a green wreath. This is the Mother of God for a wedding, she sent a good hero to ride the pains to go to an empty forest, there is a cow to eat, lean meat to eat, skin to bed, sweet to sleep, good to order ... "
Thinking as a deity, the Good is correlated with the world tree. Here is the most typical example found in a dozen variants of a song: "The tree is green - Okay, good, good, good. Good, good, good ..." And then the song is not about a horseman and will we have to accept that this "green tree" is "our good God." In a ritual song from Dalgopolsko it is sung how "A good hero with a good horse hunts Sur deer". The deer turns to his pursuer in an attempt to dissuade him:
"Oh you, good hero, don't chase me, don't scare me, not a deer to come, to reach, to catch, that he is a deer of a basket, from the basket of the firstborn - nine hours of breastfeeding bitch, and the tenth of the soybeans went! " The hero replies: "And I am a young maiden's hero, my horse is a mare. Nine years old the sucker sucked, and the tenth was oat with white rice and it was drizzled with shattering wine! "
Various variants of the song in question are attested in almost all corners of Bulgaria. The song's motive is called "miracle deer hunting". Good Good is also related to the Thracian Hero (hero - a horseman of semi-divine origin, involved in hunting boar, deer or deer). With the nickname "Latin Dobri" the good hero we meet him in Bulgarian Christmas song. There he is a "young kehaya" (chorbadjiya) who has a "gray flock of ram rams as big as a dark cloud." He is friends with the "nine shepherds" who carry his flock up the mountain. In another Dobri song (this time both as Latin Dobri and as Kara Dobri), the nine shepherds and the flock meet Diva - Karadiva.
"Oh you, good hero, don't chase me, don't scare me, not a deer to come, to reach, to catch, that he is a deer of a basket, from the basket of the firstborn - nine hours of breastfeeding bitch, and the tenth of the soybeans went! " "Hey, you nine my shepherds, kill gags, put yurluks on them to make the sheep shade! Not yet reached the shadow, Diva jumped out - Karadiva, right wing outstretched, covering the Clear Sun. Enjoyed Latin Good: - Take off the caps, my shepherds, untie the bags, give Caradiva with silver and gold! Diva - Karadiva called: “If I was making money, the forest would be gilded and the field would be silver. I don't want money, but a hero like Kara Good! - If so, pick up the crooks and hit! Kara Dobry ordered his shepherds. "So we'll pay Diva to Karadiva." (A. Kaloyanov)
Hunting for "sur deer" is also practiced by another of the mythical heroes - Dan-Bogdan. The interesting thing about Dan-Bogdan is that he has 'unclean', serpent-like origins, such as taxes are made in some songs: 'Is a storm forest lomi or a llama a dragon chase?' with golden horns across the Pirin Mountain. " This hero has a dual nature - he is both a dragon and a dragon. It is defined by experts as one of the dying deities of fertility, such as in the Egyptian and Greek mythologies of Osiris and Persephone.
"At Christmas, Bulgarians sing about the Young God, born of the Old Mother of God, but there is a similar song about the birth of Dan-Bogdan. Little Danyo was born - thundering and tingling as a sign of his appearance. And then his mother lost him - just as Maya lost her naughty Hermes. She went looking for him - from land to land. She met the carols, asked them - they did not know him. Dan's mother described him: on his chest a clear sun, on his shoulders a dark moon, and his lap littered with tiny stars. Immediately the carols remembered, they really saw him in Constantinople, a horse smith, he would go on his way… Another variant tells us that the carolers came to tell his mother how little Danyo became famous by saying that he had passed, blessed - everything had fallen apart and bloomed, and they picked up a yellow flower. The text above clearly shows that we are dealing with a deity of vegetation and fertility. " (A. Kaloyanov)
The Christian religious worldview (Christmas, Nativity) is interwoven with the pagan one (the birth of Little Danyo, Dan-Bogdan on the same date). This is explained by the specialists as follows. There are "primary", "natural" primal cults in mythological societies. They relate to pagan ideas and develop in pre-religious societies.
The following cults are "secondary" - they are related to world religions (Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam). The "tertiary" cults have been associated with modern-day worship. In the example given with Dan-Bogdan and his birth at Christmas, we see syncretism (union) between primary and secondary cults.
Another thing to note is that both Good Good Hero and Dan-Bogdan exist in direct connection with the beyond and the mystical. They are not just human heroes, such as the famous hero, for example, Krali Marko (historical character). This is indicative of the fact that they date back to the popular consciousness from ancient times. From the times when the boundary between the real and the fantastic is very difficult to put.
