Folk Culture

Bulgarian Christmas Carols are among the foremost literary monuments of Indo-European culture. For many folklorists this folk art inspires their creativity. Even today the research workers are attracted to the unveiled secrets of the ancient songs.

During the Revival period many people who collected folk songs faced the overt hostility of the singers. The participants of the Christmas ritual didn’t accept the uninitiated in their circle. After liquidating the ownership of the land, during the 50s in our century, the interests of these agricultural holidays disappeared, but the Christmas ritual remained as a sign of last fidelity to the tradition. There is much evidence about those who knew of this ritual being persecuted and eradicated by the communists, who considered this as against ideology and labeled them as “class enemies.” Even today Bulgarian centenarians refuse to sing in front of folklore expedition researchers. They ask sadly, “Where have you been when we were chased and punished when we were singing at Christmas?” And the unsung songs are disappearing together with them.

These are not the only difficulties that the researchers faced. During the years, the songs accumulated mythological ideas and images that are much different from the original ones. This is because we don’t have written copies, and people passed the songs on by word of mouth.

Behind this fictitious sign and image of chaos, we find the influence of the ancient religious cults, beliefs and concepts. On Christmas Eve, families gathered together because according to the ancient beliefs this was the time when the sun was born and it wasn’t strong enough to conquer the darkness. Mankind took part in this duel between the chaos and the world order with songs, blessings, magic and rituals. All the family members were gathered around the Christmas table, where they laid everything the hard-working family produced during that year. The oldest woman in the family incensed the room and the oldest man said the prayer. During this Christmas Night only the carol-singing groups were roaming along the streets in the village. They announced with their songs the successful establishment of the new world order.

Included in this ritual were the young men who were ready to get married. They always had an older man, called Stanenik, to help them to get ready for the holiday. “Stanenik” has a Slavic origin and has the meaning of “who makes to become.” Stanenik educated the boys at his place. According to the belief, if they changed the words of the carol, they would change the magic ritual.

These carols were sung in a specific period — from midnight to the sunrise of the Christmas day. The carol singers had their magic power to chase away the evil spirits, vampires and ghosts only during that time of the night. With the sun-rise, the Christmas ritual was over and the carol-singers lost their magic power. It is believed that a house that didn’t accept carol-singers was doomed to misfortune.

According to some researchers, the Christmas ritual is a relic of the ancient institute of man’s initiations. In a later stage, when the real initiation drops out, they play this symbolically. They act this out in front of the villagers singing the Christmas carols. The young bachelors are represented as dignified future grooms. The basic songs’ motifs reveal the feats of the newly initiated.

The Christmas song cycle traditionally begins with a song for the Stanenik. They sing this song at his house where the Christmas group assembles before they start the ritual. They go around the village to the East and visit each and every house during Christmas Eve. They sing a song in front of the gates of the house. They ask the host of the house to open the door. After they enter the house, the first song they sing is dedicated to the host. In this song, they describe the welfare they wish as one already fulfilled. The meaning of this is to help in a magic way this blessing to come true.

The rest of the songs are dedicated to all the members of the family and the village’s foremost men (the elders). The songs are combined in one cycle, but could be specified to the grandmother, the grandfather, the newly born baby, the shepherds, the ploughmen, the mayor, the priest, the teacher of the village, etc. In some of the villages this cycle enumerates up to 40-50 songs.

The songs dedicated to the lasses are numerous and have a great variety. The most interesting are those in which the lass takes part in a bet. The lass signs a contract with the sun to see who is more beautiful. In this bet the lass is an equal competitor to the sun. These two suns are so bright that they could burn the earth with their beauty.

In another song the lass concludes a contract with the nightingale to have a singing competition. In this bet the conditions are very severe. If the lass wins, she will cut the nightingale’s right wing; if the nightingale wins, the lass will cut her hair. Cutting the hair symbolizes the loss of freedom and power. In this bet the lass wins, but the nightingale asks the lass to have pity on him, in return he will spend the winter in her bosom, he will spend the summer in her hair.

When the carol singers sing all the songs to each member of the family, the Stanenik steps ahead, takes the ritual bread, raises it and says a blessing. In all the regions of Bulgaria the blessings are long and encompass all the ritual wishes for health and welfare. The blessing is sung in recitative, and with this the Christmas carol cycle is finished and completed.

In current times, this Christmas ritual has been revived again in Bulgaria. After decades of the traditional Bulgarian holiday system being changed by force in the name of “the new socialistic ideals,” now at long last, we are returning to the traditions and values inherited from the past.

Nowadays this magic ritual has lost its meaning and is regarded more as an aesthetic one. The process of “the coming of the carol singers” at the house is full of joy and happiness. Especially the old people meet the carol singers with tenderness and eyes full of tears. They make the sign of the cross and say, “We were alive to see another group of Christmas singers to enter our threshold.”