An Ancient Bulgarian Ritual and the Magic Power of Words

Abstract

The ritual „Gramada” is a typical tradition of the  Bulgarian ethnic territories that appeared between the end of the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century. It represents a symbolic way of „escorting” (a sort of symbolic funeral) of a dead man, who committed an act unacceptable for the community, upon the world of the dead. The „Gramada” ceremony is observed as piling up some stones on a sacral place so  they can form (create) a barrier between the  sinner  and  the  righteous.  During  the ritual,  symbolic  words  and  acts are  performed  as a verbal and nonverbal act of magic. It reveals thebelief of the traditional Bulgarian people in the magical power of words.