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THE DANCING DIMENSION OF CHILDREN’S FOLKLORE IN BUŁGARIA
Children’s folk games and dances constitute an important part of BuLgaria’s tra- ditional culture. There are specific and manifold situations in which dancing skills are transmitted and improved, and the folk culture reąuires dance performed by both adults and children - both younger and older ones. Thus, chiLdren can perfect their individual attitudes as well as sociaL behaviour patterns.
The bond between children’s dances and traditional customs is extraordinariLy distinct, especially with regard to initiation rites. Particularly in girls, they express a symbolic transition from a girls to a maiden state.
The element that connects children, adolescents and adults in Bułgaria is above all a dance called horo. Under the ruraL community's control - whether exercised openly or clandestinely - the process of mastering it is a special form in which to pass on dancing skills, as well as a pecuLiar kind of examination in a given commu- nity’s culture.
The text presents examples of various kinds of children's games and dances.
