The girls decorate in a colorful and rich way their hairs and go around the village singing songs and dancing, in this way showing they are ready to get married It’s almost time for our Kickstarter campaign to start. Tuesday, April 16 is launch day for our special edition of our book Light Love Rituals. This is a special project. Light Love Rituals is more than a book—it’s a piece of my soul, a way to share my upbringing, my experiences, and my love for the rich tapestry of Bulgarian folklore. I believe that each person needs to know their roots and know their identity and culture; otherwise ..read more

Kickstarter campaign update: Our Kickstarter campaign for Light Love Rituals is available now for preview. Please take a look and feel free to give us any feedback before we launch the campaign next month. Unlike other campaigns, we’re not offering digital rewards besides the ebook. We have permission to use the artist’s illustrations for the book and for promotional purposes, but we cannot share them in other ways. Copies are available, however, from the artist’s son through his Facebook site, so we welcome you to visit there. Today’s article is about the Bulgarian embroidery, shevitza. You ..read more

Dionysian Feasts by Keazim Issinov February is the month of wine and roses, with Valentine’s Day celebrated on February 14. This day is also when Bulgarians celebrate Trifonovden, a day focused on vineyards. Many theories abound about the origins of winemaking. Scholars debate who first brought viticulture to the region of Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey. Some speculate that when Thracians populated the area, they brought grapevines, cultivated them, and began wine production. What is less debated is that Trifonovden originated from spring-awakening rituals. Thracian Rozalii performed these rit ..read more

December 6 is Nikulden, a festival in honor of St. Nicholas, the Wonderworker, the saint associated with Christmas. He’s the patron of children, fishermen, sailors, bankers, and merchants. He’s also considered to be in charge of controlling all water bodies and reigns over creatures living in them. Often described as “Lord of the Sea,” Nicholas is compared to the Greek god Poseidon. Born 280 A.D. Died Dec. 6, 343 A.D. Nikulden is a favorite saint’s feast day for many Bulgarians. He has various names in different parts of the world. Whether you know him as Father Christmas, St. Nick, or Santa ..read more

If you type the word русалка (rusalka, plural rusalki) into a translation program, it will spit back “mermaid.” That is how westerners think about these water maidens. However, although they have characteristics of mermaids, rusalki lack one essential feature—fish tails (although more modern descriptions, ours included, may portray them this way). The name “rusalka” may be derived from an old Slavonic word rus (river or stream), ruslo (river bed), or even rosa (dew). Others have thought it comes from the word rusyj/rusaja (strawberry blond, golden [of hair]). Many scholars, however, believe th ..read more

The Water Bull has been described as a Bulgarian Loch Ness monster. Except, I don’t think any folktales exist the Nessie was tamed by love, not that Nessie is considered a vicious monster to start with. The similarities between the two creatures exist in the fact that both make their homes in deep bodies of water. While Nessie is in Scotland, the Water Bull’s home is in Rabisha Lake in the Belogradchik municipality, in northwestern Bulgaria. This lake, at 1.25 square miles with a depth of 49 feet, is Bulgaria’s largest interior lake, having plenty of room for the monster to hide away. He’s a f ..read more

In folklore, the Ispolini were a race of people the gods created after the Dzhudzheta, the little people or dwarves. They died out because their slight height prevented them from being able to protect themselves from wild animals. They also found themselves inept at cultivating the land. Then the gods corrected this problem and created a towering species, the Ispolini. They rose about the land to a height of up to 3 meters (9.8 feet). Not only were they tall, but they possessed huge heads and sometimes three. Each had only a single eye. Some tales described them as having only one leg. In some ..read more

The Western world is filled with stories of blood-sucking vampires that they say came from Slavic lands. In fact, the original Slavic vampire was not a Dracula-clone. This blood-sucking behavior was transferred to Slavic vampires only after the graves of supposed vampires were dug up. It was then that people noticed the deceased bloated body and a residue around the mouths that was taken for blood. Obviously, good ole Freddie (may he rest in peace) has been out having the time of his life (or death, as it were) drinking the blood from anyone he chose. And why were these graves desecrated in th ..read more

The Firebird (Zhar-ptitsa) is a creature found in the wonder tale (volshebnaia skazka). She represents a rare treasure. Her eyes are crystals, and her feathers are silvery, golden, or orange-red and glow like embers. A single feather shines brighter than numerous candles. It can brighten a room as if a thousand lights were shining within or as if the setting sun itself illuminated the room. When the light in the feather finally dims and goes out, the feather itself turns to gold. Like attracts like, and so the feather, being a treasure, will enable one to find other treasures, particularly gol ..read more

Last week, we talked about Leshy’s “good” side. Although some people may think that pranking is not good, in these instances, Leshy didn’t do any real damage to anyone. He just had a good laugh. His “bad” side, however, was not always so humorous. First, let’s talk about a few of his vices. According to some sources, Leshy likes to drink. After a long night of carousing, when he’s incapacitated, his friend the bear stands guard to protect this forest spirit. When the bear is not around, a wolf will watch over his master. For bear and wolf, and even horned owl, are Leshy’s faithful companions ..read more