Ritual Terminology Connected with the Wedding Night and “Sweet Rakia” in Traditional Bulgarian Weddings

Authors:

Pages: 103-113

Abstract:

This article is an attempt to analyse selected ritual terms related to the wedding night and „sweet rakia“ in traditional Bulgarian weddings. Selected terms have a close connection with the rite’s semantics. The first group includes the names of the wedding night (they express the widely understood concept of the connection between the newlyweds) and the names of the ritual characters motivated by their activities (which recreate the order of wedding night’s preparation). The terms of the second group are names referring to the rakia‘s qualities as a bride‘s virginity or her lack of. A separate section is devoted to the definitions of the virgin and non-virgin bride.

Keywords:

wedding ceremony, terminology, semantics, word formation

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