Magic and Divination in the Southern Slavic Lands
MAGIC AND DIVINATION IN THE SOUTHERN SLAVIC LANDS
The magical thinking
In her book dedicated to the practices of spell-casting and magic in the Southern Slavic lands Dr. Lilya Stareva studies these phenomena providing plenty of examples from her ancestors’ lives. In simplest of terms, magic is everything achieved through inexplicable and supernaturalmeans, unattainable for humans and in tangible contradiction to normal laws of nature. It is as ancient as the world itself. In magical thinking, the evocation of welfare, good health, love, and fertility involves establishing contact with mysterious forces. It was the province of holy miracle workers, but also of women who were “liaising with the devil”. Magic is an attempt at penetrating into the unseen, at naming the nameless, and depicting the featureless.
The magical practices of the Southern Slavic lands, inhabited nowadays by the population of Macedonia, the northern part of Greece, northern Turkey (Edirne Thrace), and the whole of Bulgaria, are mainly related to Bulgarian folklore heritage. They comprise the bulk of the people’s unique magical thinking and worldview. The transition from our world to the other, the “superworld”, perceived today as miracle of miracles, was something mundane for their forebears. They used to practice it on a daily basis: on holidays and workdays, in joys and sorrows. They were able to unravel the meaning behind cryptic symbols. The rituals of folklore culture re-enact this “game” of travelling to the great beyond, of “peeking” in this mystery world and the secrets of immortality it harbors, of “soliciting” earthly goods for the folk. At the same time, they carry the self-confidence of these people of old, risen from the fact that not only chosen ones were “blessed” to roam between the worlds, that the ordinary mortal is also endowed with this gift and during the ritual he, too, is liable to be possessed of a higher power – unearthly, preternatural, inexplicable, but real for all that.
As a part of community, but also as an individual, the folkloric person aims at gaining knowledge of his surroundings, recognizing in them the enigmatic magical signs of his destiny, “deciphering” the symbols in the fates’ ethereal book to find out what the future holds – love, good health, luck, marriage, offspring, fertility, money, and estates. He examines the grass and the flowers with his “third” eye, the magical one, he fathoms their elemental force, and uses them as a cure for numerous maladies. With his soul’s sensitive strings he perceives the miracles in the delicate puff of the wind, the lunar phases, the fire’s blazes, the waters of rivers and lakes, the trees’ silhouettes, the colors of his garments. He senses the magic in words, in solemn ceremonies – also known as rituals, and the ones taking part in them – all actors in the theater called life. The enchanting belief in the validity of miracles aids the struggle against the most savage of illnesses, against evil powers, elemental forces and disasters, helps in the blackest of years. It enlivens the spirit and makes life bearable.
The Magical Practices
This book contains a description of the most widespread and esteemed magical practices, exercised during the official and family holidays. They have to do with:
- Demons from the beyond and their magical powers – zmey and lamya (dragons), samodiva (wood-nymph), yuda (evil fairy), vampire, karakondzhul (hobgoblin), navi (evil female spirits, usually in threes, who torture unborn children and women in child-birth). Lost souls, roaming the night, unexpected whiffs of breath from the hereafter. How should we protect ourselves, how could we summon them to do us good. People once possessed that gift, they had secret weapons and used secret passages to their world.
- The magical and awful force of nature and the calamities she may unleash. The experience of the forefathers regarding the most powerful counteraction against disasters is as fascinating as an enchanting fairytale, but is, nevertheless, utterly real. What is the essence of thunder, lightning, hail and hailstorms, rain, drought, winds and whirlwinds, earthquakes? How could we protect ourselves from the devastating force of the elements and evoke mercy and kindness in nature? Which are the perilous transitions in the magical calendar and how do we preserve our health and life while they last?
- A central place in the book is reserved for the most popular magical practices from the Southern Slavic region for Good Health, Love, Beauty, Luck, Money, Estates and Prosperity, Fertility, Happy Home, Children and Offspring. These are the most prominent appeals of each and every folklore ritual. How do we repel evil, sickness, misfortune, and barrenness? The people of yore knew how to achieve these goals through the common practice of the holy rites. By virtue of their magical ceremonies each of them felt as a part of an integral whole – the community, and an even bigger whole – nature. What magical meaning is concealed behind a person’s name? Are there miracles hidden in fire, water, bread, wine, salt…? Become acquainted with the symbols on your table.
- The magical objects – amulets and talismans.
- Different types of magic and magical practices. Where lies the arcanum in speech and occult rites, in ritualistic roles and objects, in time and space, in paths chosen and directions, in the human body? What kind of mystical meanings do colors and forms, flora and fauna carry? Are numbers encrypted with a magical code and how do we decipher it?
- What types of magical techniques did the forefathers use in order to work a miracle, to evoke good fortune, to repel evil, to feel secure in the broad, unfathomable, and often dangerous world?
- The signs, concealed in our surroundings, through which we could tell our own fortune, prophesy what days and years lay ahead, and what to expect.
The folklore heritage of the Slavic forebears presents a tale of the circles in human life, of its mythical “child’s” viewpoint. Down the spiral of his millennia on this earth, man has created a marvelous book of life, covering its pages with unwritten rituals, occult practices and vetoes, divinations and prophecies, sorcery, spells, blessings, and prayers. That book made him feel more secure during periods of change, allowed him to perceive himself as an inseparable part of the big world.
In Dr. Lilya Stareva’s book about magic and sorcery in the Southern Slavic lands are included mainly the magical practices, divinations and prophecies, related to the official and family holidays. They constitute an intriguing and important read for the contemporary person, who is free to imbibe them with his own meanings, to rediscover their archaic, but still functional values; to familiarize himself with them and even put them to practice in his own day. This knowledge will enrich the reader’s spirit and provide him with a basis to stand on in this time of faulty value systems.
MAGICAL RITUALS FOR GOOD HEALTH
Health Calendar
“Health is the most precious fortune.” The folk knew it from time immemorial and were willing to go to great lengths to have good health. They turned this fortune into the highest of goals and its only rivals were love and affection for their children. A significant part of the Slavic holiday calendar could be described as a collection of magical rituals for health – how do people protect themselves from illnesses, how to evoke haleness and longevity, how to cast evil away.
Ignazhden (St. Ignatius’ Day)
On Ignazhden people knead little bread rolls (kolache) for each family member. The first pinch of the dough is dried and later used for remedy. The Slavs believed that these dried dough balls helped curing stomach aches and stabbing chest pain. The second pinch is formed into a cross and hung above the door.
Neighbors exchange small flat loafs of bread for the well-being of all their domestic animals.
Prohibitions
People should not wash their clothes, for illness may befall them.
If men do not harness the cattle on that day, their livestock will be sturdy and agile throughout the whole year.
Badni Vecher (Christmas Eve)
Prophecies
If you put the ivy leaves from the dinner table under your pillow, in the morning they will show you in what health you will be during the year to come. If they stayed fresh and green till the morning, you will enjoy robust health.
On Badni Vecher people break the walnuts, intended for each family member on Ignazhden. If after breaking the shells the nuts stay intact and are white and bulky, the person will be healthy and fortunate throughout the year.
If on Badni Vecher you rub garlic on your palms and armpits and behind your ears, ailments will stay away from you the whole year through.
Christmas Day
People throw splinters from the badnik* in the river, so they can live a healthy and long life.
* A thick log, left to burn in the fireplace on Badbi Vecher.
1 January, Vasilovden (St. Basil/Vasilius’ Day)
St. Basil protects believers against black magic, evil eyes, dark forces and mental illnesses.
In some regions (the Rodopi Mountains) mothers rise early in the morning and tap the still sleeping children on the backs with decorated cornel twigs (survachka) for haleness and good fortune. After that they perform the ritual with all family members.
Women and girls wash their hairs with water, in which cornel has been soaked, to make them strong and shiny.
Prophecies
If the ritual pogacha (round loaf) is not well-baked, the year will be hard; if it turns out to be baked just right – a healthy year is to come; and if it is overdone – the children will grow strong teeth.
A budding cornel twig is hung over the front door. The mother intends a cornel bud for each member of the family, then throws it in the fire and they all watch it burn. If the bud jumps up and pops, its owner will be robust and spritely throughout the year; if the bud stays in the fire, smoldering, illnesses are coming. It is considered a dark omen, if the bud blackens and starts smoking.
You can examine the kernel of walnuts to foretell your future physical condition.
People put ivy leaves, marked with color threads,under the eaves in a bowl of water. In the morning, the condition of the leaves is indicative of the well-being of their respective owners.
6 January, Jordanovden (St. Jordan’s Day)
On the eve of the holiday, ivy leaves, intended for each family member, are strung on a threadand left for the night outdoors. During the night, the heavens open, St. Ilia descends on horseback and marks some of the leaves. The unmarked leaves presage good health.
The Slavic forefathers believed that exactly at midnight the rivers ceased flowing and their water acquired healing powers. People take some of the holy water home, sprinkle their houses with it, drink it to be healthy, and keep some for cure. The sick are washed or sprinkled with the healing water, taken from the place where the cross has been recovered*, in order to get better. All people have a drink of the wonder-working water on an empty stomach, wash their hands and faces. Unmarried girls wash their faces, so they can be fresh and rosyduring the whole year.
* On this day the local priest ritualistically throws the cross from the church in the nearest river and people jump in to fish it out. (Translator’s note)
On returning from the church, the folk place an axe with its edge pointing up in the middle of the house and then jump over it to keep the maladies out. The one who jumps highest is the first to sip the holy water.
7 January, Ivanovden (St. John’s Day)
St. John helps cure different kinds of diseases, but people suffering from severe headaches should pray to him most fervently.
By consecration, water acquires healing powers and is able to repel evil, strengthen people and give them liveliness and haleness. It is said that on Ivanovden everybody should experience its magical power on their own body.
The newlyweds, married in the winter before the coming of Ivanovden, the engaged girls and lads, and, naturally, the people celebrating their name day must be washed with the holy water. Children and the more notable and affluent citizens are first to be bathed. The ritual is best performed outdoors, in flowing water, or, at the least, brought directly from the spring. This way the magic is most potent.
8 January, Babinden (Grandmothers’ Day/Midwives’ Day)
On this day the grandmother of the household blesses the children, whose birth she had assisted, and their mothers, also. She ties a red thread (vlasets) on elder children’s and young wives’ hands and pronounces the blessing: “May you be as ruby as the vlasets, may you buzz like a busy bee.” The boys will grow manly moustaches and the girls – long hair. The vlasets is probably a surviving relic from the olden Slavic god of fertility and livestock Vlas, and the bee is the zoomorphic counterpart of the Virgin Mary.
She sprinkles with water the married and unmarried girls, so they can bear healthy children. “May children soon be gamboling about the house!”, “May the little ones have rosy cheeks!”, “As the water drops are countless, so may the harvest be rich!”
Beliefs
The children of the girl, who is the first to pour water for the grandmother, will live the longest.
If, while washing, the grandmother slips the soap over the girl’s skin or throws water behind her back, wetting the young wife’s sock, her childbirth will be easier.
If the grandmother wipes her hands in the wife’s shirt, she will mother many children.
17 January, Antonovden (St. Anthony’s Day)
It is said that on this day St. Anthony chases the insanity with a knife, and when it hides in the devil, the saint is sorely angered. In the Pirin Mountain region there exists a popular belief that on Antonovden all maladies gather together and on the next day they start pestering people.
On this holiday people honor the plague.
Women bake and give away honeyed loafs of bread for the good health of the “aunt” (a tabooed name of the disease).
Prohibitions
People do not cook beans, lentils, corn, in order to protect children from contracting measles.
They bolt the doors shut, close the window shutters, and avoid lighting candles, for fear that diseases might see the light and drop in on them.
No pork is served, in order not to “anger” the diseases.
No one uses knitting or sewing needles, for if they prick themselves, the wounds will not heal easily.
People avoid touching wool, because it is believed that the plague makes its bed of it.
18 January, Atanasovden (St. Athanasius’ Day)
According to popular belief, St. Athanasius fights the Evil One, sinister spirits, and the maladies the folk struggles to pacify and repel with magic and ritualistic celebrations. The saint is a giant horseman wearing a high Cossack hat–a fearsome mythical rider, who roams the village at midnight, protecting it from demons and ailments. St. Athanasius is sometimes depicted as a mythical herdsman – a personage related to the wilderness, to the territories, not yet claimed by humans.
In some regions (the Gabrovo town area) people believed that on Atanasovden along with the plague, the bear (a theriomorphic mythological image of the disease) was born.
The concept of the saint as a wielder of the plague calls for the preparation of courban*.A black hen or a black lamb is slaughtered. Children’s foreheads are smeared with the sacrificial blood. All residents of the village must taste the cooked courban, in order to repulse the harsh, incurable diseases.
The blood and bones of the sacrificial animal are buried in a spot, where no human ever sets foot.
* Hebrew origin. An offering of a domestic animal and the consequent preparation of a feast, to which all neighbors and friends of the family are invited. The ritual is usually performed due to the recovery of a sick person, a successful undertaking, etc. Observed by Muslims and Christians alike. (Translator’s note)
The folk perform rites aimed at healing domestic animals of plague and other diseases. The women bake round loafs, coat them with honey and give them away to neighbors and relatives, usually standing on crossroads. The dough is kneaded by unmarried girls, young wives, or the village’s sturdiest woman, mother of many children.They prick them with a fork, so that the measles stays away from the little ones, and decorate them with a sprig of basil. The housewives shape little dogs out of the dough, for the plague is most scared of dogs. They also bake three kravaycheta (ring-shaped buns), one of which the mother throws on the roof or in the chimney.