Macedonia & Paganisam

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  • I of Macedon
    Member
    • Sep 2008
    • 222

    #16
    One book of this nature is (I personally have not read it yet but I will):

    Aleksandar Donski THE DESCENDANTS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT OF MACEDON The arguments and evidence that today's Macedonians are descendants of the ancient Macedonians (part one - folklore elements)

    About book (from website);

    There are numerous folk creative works in the Macedonian folklore dedicated to some of the ancient-Macedonian rulers. There are also certain folklore elements (especially in the tales) that without doubt have their roots in ancient Macedonia. Some of those elements are: the motif of the lion (lions in fact lived in Macedonia in the ancient period and that is the reason why the lion has been widely appears in the Macedonian tales as well as in the heraldry); the tsar with a horn (in a tale about Alexander of Macedon recorded by Tsepenkov); the lynx; the philosopher; the motif of the three brothers (taken from the Herodotus' story about the founding of the Macedonian State); the belief that the crow brings bad fortune and the eagle brings victory etc. All this is explained and argumented in the book

    In the Macedonian folklore there are large number of songs, poems, tales, legends and narratives with an ancient-Macedonian contents registered as early as the 16th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The contents and details in some of these works are in astonishing agreement with the historical events.

    In one folklore song about Alexander The Great of Macedon recorded in the 19th century, mosquitoes (malaria) have clearly been identified as the reason for Alexander's death even though it has been scientifically proven that mosquitoes carry the malaria disease only in the early 20th century!

    In the 19th century Miladinov brothers recorded a narrative about the founding of the town of Voden, which is in complete agreement with the historical description by the ancient historian Justin despite the fact that his work has not yet been translated and published in Macedonian.

    There are a large number of customs, rituals, ceremonies and popular beliefs that remained from the ancient Macedonians among Macedonians in the 19th and 20th centuries. For example, Herodotus wrote that at the festivities in ancient Macedonia the men sat separate from the women. This custom has also been registered by the recorders of Macedonian folk creative work in the 19th and 20th centuries, and it is still practiced today. We have the custom of breaking a loaf of bread during the marriage ceremonies that has also remained from the ancient Macedonians. This custom was mentioned by the biographer of Alexander the Great of Macedon Quintus Curtius Rufus. Consideration of the men's waistband from the folk apparel as a symbol of manhood is another custom that remained from the ancient Macedonians (this was recorded by Aristotle and the same custom was recorded in Macedonia in the 19th century). Bestowing a ring to the heir before one's death is a custom that was practiced by the ancient Macedonians and is still practiced today, as it is the case with cutting the hair in moments of great sorrow. Even the ancient Macedonian custom of electing the king (carried out by army assembly and election by acclamation) endured among the Macedonians from the 19th century as a custom of selecting the village leader. Ancient-Macedonian elements are also present in the celebrations of the following holidays: Lazara, Gurgovden, Rusa Sreda and Prochka. Ancient-Macedonian elements are present in Macedonian customs for calling rain. The belief in the magical power of the snake also came down from the ancient Macedonians, as well as a number of burial customs and so on. All this is elaborated in detail in the book through comparative review of citations from ancient authors and the recorders of Macedonian folk creative works from 19th and 20th centuries.

    On the other hand, in the Macedonian folklore and people's collective memory one can not find even a single memory of our alleged "life on the other side of the Carpathians". Furthermore, the ethnonim "Slavs" had not been mentioned at all, not even in a single Macedonian folk lore!
    Last edited by I of Macedon; 09-19-2008, 01:32 AM.
    No need to sit in the shade, because we stand under our own sun

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    • Jankovska
      Senior Member
      • Sep 2008
      • 1774

      #17
      i am gonna get the book- thanks

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