Woles in bulgarian folk culture and its protective functions: reflections on the example of a museum exhibit
Each museum item has special properties, which allows us to consider it as a multifaceted cultural object, a source of scientific knowledge and a specific tool. The publication considers the votive “oxen” as a museum item and as an important ritual image of the life support system and amulets in the traditional community of Bulgarian farmers. In their traditional folk culture, the “prevention” and “cure” of diseases are not only associated with humans. The practice of plowing on oxen during an epidemic shows the faith of a person in a traditional society in the forces of nature, divine and supernatural forces, in a world in which the ox acts as a totemic being. The idea that “oxen in a plow” refers to various topics that are ideologically united by faith in a healing ritual, a request for protection, and hope for a prosperous tomorrow is emphasized.