Books and Websites

Books about Bulgarian folk culture in English translation are rare. Grab them when you can!
This list also includes some sources for Background to Bulgarian Myth and Folklore

Bulgarian Folklore and Folk Tales: Books

Ancient Magic in Bulgarian Folklore by Ekaterina Aleksieva & Dinna Ancheva (Kalimana)
Intriguing combination of personal experience and theoretical explanation of several rituals plus songs from Bistritsa, Sofia region.

***Bulgarian Folk Customs*** by Mercia MacDermott (Jessica Kingsley 1998)
Essential reading. A comprehensive reference book giving an overview of Bulgarian culture with an easy to read account of a large number of customs and rituals.

Bulgarian Folk Dances by Raina Katzarova-Kukudova (The Science & Art State Publishing House, Sofia 1958).
Interesting background to Bulgarian folk dance, plus notated dances from different regions.

Bulgarian Folk Mythology by Ivanichka Georgieva (Sofia 1985)
Invaluable reference book about the main beasts, beings and beliefs of the Bulgarian people.

Goddess Embroideries of the Balkan Lands and the Greek Islands by Mary B. Kelly (Studiobooks 1999). Mary Kelly recounts Bulgarian women's folk rituals and links to the goddess motifs on their textiles. I haven't read this book but it sounds intriguing and definitely worth a look.

May It Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music by Timothy Rice (University of Chicago Press 1994). An ethnomusicology book complete with sample CD.

Monumenta Bulgarica by Thomas Butler (Michigan Slavic Publications 1996)
A bilingual anthology of Bulgarian texts from the 9th to the 19th century with a good but frustratingly small collection of folk tales, epic, mythological and ritual songs at the end.

Traditional Bulgarian Wedding by Radost Ivanova (Svyat Publishers, Sofia, 1987)
An excellent book with photos detailing the fascinating  customs and symbology associated with Bulgarian traditional  weddings.

Bulgarian Folklore and Folk Tales: Websites

Unfortunately, websites sometimes disappear from the internet. If you find any broken links, please let us know.

Women in the Bulgarian Folk Tradition
www.writing.upenn.edu/~wh/artgallery/dancing_milkova1.pdf
Stiliana Milkova of the University of California writes about walled-in wives, dragons' brides and wild fairies (samodivi). The article is in pdf format (if you haven't already got Acrobat Reader, you can download it free).

The gendering of the South Slavic epic tradition by Elka Agoston-Nikolova
http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2386/is_2_113/ai_95107634
This interesting academic article examines the Bulgarian epic singing tradition and different interpretations of the tales depending on the gender of the singer.
(If you can't get through on this link, go to the main site, articles.findarticles.com, and put in a search for the title.)

Wonderland Bulgaria
www.omda.bg/indexa.htm
Under the Ethnography and Folklore section you'll find a useful brief overview of Bulgarian folklore from Professor Todor Zhivkov, plus pages on Bulgarian vampires, fairies, traditions and cuisine. This is a good site to browse as there are other interesting articles here including ones on Bulgarian history and archaeology.

A Residence in Bulgaria
www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sc/index.html
Another gift posted upon Vassil Karloukovski's site, this fascinating book written by S. St Clair and Charles Brophy in 1869, has three chapters covering 19th century Bulgarian folklore and songs. It is a biased account reflecting its time and culture, but you will find some gems on Bulgarian witches and vampires, plus a disparaging description of the Bulgarian epic hero, Krali Marko.

Fire-dancing (Nestinarstvo)
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0130033
An excellent site by students in Varna about the Bulgarian fire-dancing ritual, although perhaps lacking sufficient information on the background mythology. Complete with pictures, sample music and an interview with one of the few remaining Nestinari.

Bulgarian Traditions
http://traditions-bg.com/index.php
A nicely laid out site with some good information on Bulgarian calendar and life cycle traditions, although the English translation is quirky.

WebFolk Bulgaria
http://musicart.imbm.bas.bg/en/default.htm
This is the Bulgarian Academy of Science multimedia database for authentic Bulgarian musical folklore. Not the easiest of sites, but it's an invaluable rich reference source, with hundreds of unique audio samples, notes, photos and video materials covering a wide range of styles and topics. Brilliant!

Select Complex Search, then select Theme, and you can listen to audio samples from a whole range of themes, from the epic songs about Krali Marko, to mythological songs, "immured wife" and "dirty folklore". There is no English translation of the words or summary of content.

Protecting & Popularizing Roma Culture in Central Bulgaria
http://romaculture.cult.bg/front2.htm
An English version of an excellent Bulgarian site about Roma folklore and culture in Bulgaria. You'll also find a range of Bulgarian Roma tales in English translation, with a brief analysis of each according to Aarne-Thompson's folk tale types.

Nasrudin and the Trees: Seven Tales
www.spiritoftrees.org/folktales/howe/nasrudin_trees.html
Priscilla Howe's retelling of several Bulgarian tales about the Turkish wise fool, Nastraddin Hodja and the Bulgarian peasant trickster, Hitur Petur (Sly / Clever Peter). The stories are all connected to the theme of trees on this great website dedicated to the subject.

Learning about Forests - Bulgarian forest myths
www.leaf-international.org/Leaf/myths.html
Some contributions from Bulgarian school students about samodivi (wood nymphs) and the Tree of Life, plus myths about the pine and aspen tree, brown bear and deer. Part of an international schools education project on forests.

Holidays of the Bulgarians in Myth and Legend
www.kroraina.com/knigi/bg_folklore/index.htm
A good folklore calendar written by Nikola Nikov, posted upon Vassil Karloukovski's excellent site, which gives some of the folklore and mythology for each day of the Bulgarian folk calendar.

Folktales and Values - Tales from Bulgaria
http://ftv.flameghana.org/index.php?option=com_ewriting&Itemid=30&func=selectcat&cat=12
Never mind the spelling mistakes and mixed up phrases, these 15 stories are from Bulgarian school children writing in English as part of the iEARN (International Education & Resource Network). There are Bulgarian legends here, plus animal folk tales and stories about the Bulgarian trickster, Hitur Petur (Sly Peter). One story about the epic hero, Krali Marko, reflects Bulgaria's 500 years of captivity by the Ottoman Turks. There's also a tale that is obviously not Bulgarian in origin.

Central Balkans National Park Legends
http://www.visitcentralbalkan.net/index.php?l=1&s=1&c=15
This site has a well laid-out section outlining local legends, including snippets about Krali Marko. There is also a page on folk customs.

Bulgarian Folktales
www.suite101.com/articles.cfm/short_tales
Margarita Georgieva's translations of several Bulgarian folktales as told by Angel Karalichev, plus articles on Bulgarian folklore. Some of the tales are quite substantial and are presented in three parts such as "The Ogre Ouch and the Three Maidens."

Sixty Folk-Tales from Slavonic Sources
www.sacred-texts.com/neu/sfs
This book by A.H. Wratislaw is a gift from the superlative Sacred Texts site. It includes five intriguing Bulgarian tales.

Ancient Thrace: Books

Ancient Gold: The Wealth of the Thracians - Treasures from the Republic of Bulgaria edited by Ivan Marazov (Harry N. Abrams Inc. 1998).
A rather expensive book, but it has sumptuous photographs plus excellent essays from the Bulgarian experts about the travelling Thracian gold exhibition.

Thrace and the Thracians by Alexander Fol and Ivan Mazarov (Cassell 1977)
One of the few books in English from the Bulgarian experts about the cosmogony and culture of the ancient Thracians.

Ancient Thrace: Websites

Thrace and the Thracians
www.thrace.0catch.com 
Christopher Webber's comprehensive site on Ancient Thrace and Thracology with some great pictures, if you're not driven mad by the countless pop-up ads. (This site is currently down and a new site is promised, hosted by a different server. Further news awaited.)

Sonya Ilieva's page about Ancient Thrace and Thracology
http://thracology.dir.bg  
Interesting academic articles on Thracian Orphism and mythology.

Rock Cut Thracians
www.rock-cut.thracians.org/en/index.php
A great academic site on Thracian rock cut sanctuaries with descriptions of some of the sites and intriguing articles from some of the great names in Bulgarian Thracology, including the late Professor Alexander Fol and his daughter Valeria Fol. This is the English version of the site but the introductory page is in French.

Perperikon
www.perperikon.bg
A great easily navigated site about Perperikon, the Thracian religious sanctuary in the Rhodopi mountains, but it has also got some useful pages about Orpheus, the Orphic tradition and the Thracian Dionysus. There's lots more besides, including a virtual tour, other exciting Thracian sites in the vicinity, and info on Perperikon through to the Christian medieval period. Click on "full version" for the full English version of the site.

Trakia Travels
www.pomorie.com/trakiatravels/en/trakia.html
I don't usually include commercial sites, but this Bulgarian travel website has two excellent pages on ancient Thracian history, culture and religion by Alexander Fol and Elka Penkova, both leading Bulgarian Thracologists.
 

Proto-Bulgarians

Vassil Karloukovski's page
www.kroraina.com/index.htm
This excellent site has a wide collection of well-researched often academic articles from different sources on the history and origins of the early Bulgarians, including an interpretation of Bulgarian runes by Peter Dobrev. You'll also find articles here about ancient Thrace. The site is regularly updated with new articles so check back periodically to find out some of the latest developments in the field.
 

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