Героят и неговият кон в Сухата планина (Митопоетични реликти в няколко български народни песни)

In a critical situation the hero is in an arid mountain and wants to cut the head of his horse and drink its blood. The historical roots of the song represent fragments of the New Year‘s mythological complex associated with the rituals of killing a holy horse and initiation and marriage of the shaman-like priest. The calendric-astronomical basis of the motif is associated with two New Year‘s transitions – in the beginning of March (by the course of the Moon) and at the end of April and the beginning of May (by the course of the Pleiades).