| Summary: | Chthonic Elements in Bulgarian Spring Cycle Rites. The paper analyzes Bulgarian spring rites of scaring away insects, reptiles, predators and rodents, as well as magical prohibitions and acts protecting against them (symbolic closing off, sewing off, blocking off animal snouts / eyes). Interpreting a rite as a cultural text, particular attention is drawn to the relation between the rite’s ritual (the act, its performer and object, used props, placement in time and space) and verbal layers (words accompanying the action). The excerpted folklore texts (expressions pronounced during the act of scaring away) are discussed from the point of view of structural variety.
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