Abstract:
Memory belongs to the most frequently used concepts in contemporary Russian and Bulgarian discourses. It is treated as the highest individual and collective value, an inalienable feature of the society’s humanistic, intellectual, and spiritual development. Special attention is paid to research on folklore and ethnography, with a focus on the processes in which the memory of folk tradition is viewed as a sociocultural value. Data from Russian and Bulgarian culture have been carefully examined to discover the reasons why memory comes in variants and why facts in the process of revitalization are treated selectively. Cyclic annual rituals and those commemorating the deceased have been analysed to discover the basic models of actualizing folk memory (modification of old and emergence of new traditions) and shed light on the commercial aspect of memory (tourist attractions, shows, and performances).
