The folklore of a nation associates with the immaterial cultural heritage which is a main source of identity and is closely associated with its history. It includes cultural performances as music, dance, speech, ceremonies, fairs or the traditional folklore abilities. Until the second half of 19 c., in Bulgaria, the folk art developed in its entity and the Bulgarian science adopted it as a classical Bulgarian folklore. A change in the Bulgarian cultural model can be seen in the middle of the 19c, when the autonomous art culture– literature, music, theatre, etc. strengthened its position. On each stage of its development that model comprises a constant interest in the folklore.

The Bulgarian Folklore has a dual nature. On one hand it turns the annual economic cycle and human life cycle into a cultural tradition. On the other hand the Bulgarian historical time weaves into it. That is impressively expressed in the Bulgarian heroic epos, where in the foreground stays the portrait of the Hero, most often called Krali Marko, with his gigantic strength, as well as the specific attitude towards the Ottoman invasion on the Balkans during 14 th c., out of which arose the balladic portraits of the last king (tsar), usually Ivan Shishman, of the martyrs of faith, usually girls who committed suicide in order to avoid falling into the invaders hands, of the arising resistance in the face of the Bulgarian Haidouks (rebels for freedom). In both cases the Bulgarian folklore is rooted at the mythology, based on the beliefs in vampires and goblins, in the captivating portraits of fairies and dragons, in the sinister mythologizations of maladies and etc.

The Bulgarian calendar and family ritualism has one fundamental motive - the matrimonial subject with the main characters of the ones who are to be married. The winter ritualism brings to the foreground the ritual crowds of single young men (koledari or survakari), who gather together on 24 th of December after midnight and start their ritual tour from house to house, singing mythic nuptial songs. Analogous are the spring maiden rituals, mostly the so called lazarki – ritual groups of girls performing a specific repertory full of tragic themes .

Another way to represent the male-female relations are the so called sedyanki or tlaki – ancient forms of joint work, the harvesting or the magnificent festive horos (type of traditional Bulgarian dance), especially on days such as Easter or Saint George's day.

A type of the Bulgarian masquerade rituals is the mummers' feast, which is very different than the carnival in its West-European tradition .

In musical aspect that immaterial heritage has regional and general characteristics. We distinguish the Rhodope song and the Thracian song, the Shopp song, the Macedonian song, etc. and, at the same time - the specific Bulgarian two-voice songs, the phenomenon of irregular beats, etc.

In regards of the story-telling, the Bulgarian folk tale combines the interest in the magic and the various everyday-life events, confronting the rich and the poor, the clever and the fool ; it is characterized by the abundance of candid and natural humour . The main humoristic character in the Bulgarian tradition is Hitar Petar, who is always in a specific contest with the well-known Euro-Asian character Nasreddin Hodja.

At the end of 19 c. and the beginning of 20 c. the Bulgarian folklore tradition got some new impulses, mostly from Macedonia and Thrace, where under the influence of the revolutionary reality were created a lot of songs.

The same process could be observed later on in Dobrudzha. The urban culture engenders new phenomena among which should be mentioned the anecdotes about the popular Bulgarian character of Bay Ganyo, the urban popular tunes, etc.

The material is based on information of the web site of the Institute of Folklore by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the work of prof. Todor Iv. Zhivkov, Doctor of Philology, editor-in-chief of Bulgarski folklor , deputy to the 37 th National Assembly.