Balkan Folk Color Language: significance of color in Balkan folklore: marriage and burial

Abstract

The book was written for two years (1993-1994) as an individual project at the Department of “Slavic Studies” of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Israel. The treasures of the Israeli and Bulgarian libraries were used. The cited literature includes Bulgarian and many foreign authors. Contains data and reflections on the language of colors during weddings and funerals. The Balkans have been covered from ancient times to the present day. There are several non-color meanings of visual colors at weddings and funerals – some universal, others national - as well as systematic grammatical features of the color language. Topics: The Concept of Order, The Doctrine of colors according to the Sufis, The Doctrine of colors in Jewish Mysticism, Color and Gender, The Bride’s Veil, The Bride’s Shoes, The Wedding Flag, The Golden and Green Apple, The burial as initiation, Colors of the mourner’s clothes, The clothes of the deceased, Wedding of the dead in Balkan and non-Balkan traditions, Comparison between marriage and burial. The analysis used data on visual colors in the rituals of Ancient Rome, Jews, Druze, Armenians, Muslims from the Jordan Valley and Ottoman Turkey, and the African Ndembu tribe. The research includes data about the colors in the Bulgarian folklore rituals of the calendar holidays Easter, Christmas, and Dimitrov Day.