Mythological Thinking and Archetypes in the Contemporary Bulgarian Nestinarski Ritual Complex

Abstract

The paper examines mythological thinking in the contemporary performance of the ancient ritual complex of nestinarstvo in Bulgaria. As the folk tradition is transformed into freshly “invented” forms in the village of Stomanevo, it has been influenced by “external” factors such as individual cultural elements as well as by globalization, in particular easy access to information and the flow of esoteric literature into Bulgaria in theaftermath of communism. The rite is further molded by distinct psychological factors that constitute fundamental and dynamic conditions necessary for the tradition to be preserved and to evolve. This ritual is a living example of a community phenomenon with roots in the collective unconscious and based on archetypal structure. While its “outer” traits may vary, the “core”remains the same, representing a mosaic of universal values anchored in space and time.