Veda Slovena

Veda Slovena (Веда Словена in Modern Bulgarian, originally written as Веда Словенахъ) is an ethnographic collection of folk songs and legends of the Muslim Bulgarians; the subtitle of the book indicated that they were collected from the regions of Thrace and Macedonia (see image right). The first volume of which was printed in 1874 in Belgrade and the second in 1881 in Saint Petersburg under the authorship of Bosnian Croat Stjepan Verković.

Cover of the first volume

Cover of the second volume

The collection has unusual themes and content - it deals with pagan gods, supernatural beings, mythological heroes, ancient kings and lords - knowledge and cultural memories formed long before the Islamization of the Pomaks, but also before the Christianization of the Bulgarian people.

The collection was assembled by Bulgarian teacher Ivan Gologanov for 12 years and is famous for containing numerous elements of ancient Slavic mythology notwithstanding the conversions first to Christianity and then to Islam.

Veda Slovena has been alleged to have been partly or fully forged by Gologanov ever since its publication, dividing scholarly circles into two groups, the one considering the texts to be forged, the other defending their genuineness.^[1] Recently editions like "Bulgarian Encyclopaedia"^[2] consider Veda Slovena to be a mystification.

After a long-term inquiry in the Rhodopes, Todor Riznikov became convinced of the authenticity of the songs. In 1991, Ivan Bogdanov's monograph „Веда Словена и нашето време“ was published, which is the most serious attempt to prove the authenticity of the document.

See also

• Folk Songs of the Macedonian Bulgarians