Ronesa Aveela's Blog, page 3

Beware the Karakonjul During the Dirty Days

You’re probably familiar with a centaur, a half-man, half-horse creature from Greek mythology. But have you heard of the karakonjul? He appears in Slavic and Turkish folklore.

His lower body is that of a horse with a dog, sheep, or livestock tail, while his upper body is a grotesque, hairy human-like being. One or two horns may sprout from his overly large head. He often has a single eye, and he may even have wings. The creature is a shape-shifter who may take on human form, or an animal such as a dog, cat, sheep, or calf.

Karakonjul illustration by Bulgarian artist Viktor Paunov from Vampiri, gunduratzi, zmey (Krassimir Mirchev, Panorama Publishing House, Sofia 1998). Source: old.omda.bg.

In some instances, he’s a creature who asks favors of lost travelers, or he may pepper them with riddles. To be safe, you must include in each response the Turkish word kara (for “black”). If you’re polite and kind to him, the creature may provide you assistance. Those cases are rare, however.

More often than not, he’ll harm those he encounters. He’s particularly fond of jumping on the backs of anyone who gets too near and riding them like horses until they die. Other malicious activities include climbing a high wall or cliff and throwing his victim into a deep well or other body of water, or hanging his prey on a tree as a decoration.

Fortunately, your chances of encountering him occur only during the Dirty Days, the twelve days from Christmas Eve until St. Jordan’s Day, the Epiphany (January 6). This is the time of year when the boundary between the spirit and human worlds is thin and those on the other side can easily pass over to our world. During this time, the cosmos is said to return to a state of chaos. And so, it’s no wonder that the karakonjul wreaks havoc in the world during the time he’s allowed to cross over.

He appears after midnight. You’re likely to find him at crossroads, bridges, abandoned mills, and other deserted places. He may also wander around caves, rivers, and any location where ivy grows. As with other demonic creatures, he disappears at a rooster’s first crow.

If you must venture outside during the time the karakonjul is active, make sure to carry with you white garlic that was part of the Christmas Eve meal, or ashes from a log burned that night. These, as well as iron, fire, incense, and wormwood, are things the beast fears and will offer you a modicum of protection. After St. Jordan’s Day, ashes burned during the Dirty Days are called “filthy ashes.” When discarded, these ashes attract the karakonjul and he feeds upon them.

When he’s not in our world, he and his kind are far below the surface of the World Tree, trying to saw it down to bring about not only the tree’s demise but also the destruction of the world. The creatures almost succeed in their task, but Christmas arrives as they’re about to make the last cut. The creatures abandon their activity so they can cause trouble in the world above. By the time they return to the underworld, the tree has healed itself, and the creatures have to start all over again.

In our Dragon Village series, we call the karakonjul Bor Stobor (whose name translates to a person who is strong as a big pine wood). He has aligned himself with our hero’s enemies, who have promised him that he and his kind can roam free in the upper world every day of the year and not just during the 12 Dirty Days.

Kickstarter Campaign

We’ll be launching the complete Dragon Village series in the September/October timeframe. Here’s a preview of our campaign story.

Dangers lurk in Dragon Village, but also secrets. Can Theo solve the mysteries before an evil creature conquers the magical and human worlds?

Do you have an adventurous soul, ready to encounter strange magical creatures?Have you ever wished you could travel through a portal to another world?Do you love the reluctant hero, strong female friends, and quirky sidekicks?

If this sounds like you, then step through the gate into the magical world of Dragon Village.

Campaign link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/dragon-village

If you enjoy discovering fascinating details about Slavic creatures, you can also find out more about many in our Spirits & Creatures series:

A Study of Household Spirits of Eastern Europe

A Study of Rusalki – Slavic Mermaids of Eastern Europe

A Study of Dragons of Eastern Europe

A Study of Baba Yaga

The Walled-in Bride

KADIN BRIDGE: Klearchos Kapoutsis from Paleo Faliro, Athens, Greece, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

When I was a child, I was fascinated by stories my grandmother told me about people or animals embedded into walls or foundations. I also found the thought of it barbaric. Every time I passed by a bridge or church, I wondered who had been embedded there. The reason for doing such a thing was to make the building strong.

Although animals such as roosters have served this purpose in new constructions, physically walling in a human is believed to have occurred only in legends. In real life, it was believed that a person’s shadow could be captured to be built into the wall. The spirit, called a talasum, would remain there for eternity to protect the building.

My grandmother never allowed me to approach a place where a house or other structure was being built. She waited until the walls were as high as us. If we came too near any sooner than that, she told me that the builder could capture our shadow and brick us in.

A scary thought. I had no desire to become a talasum.

Are you wondering how a shadow was embedded?

The process wasn’t that difficult. The builder waited until a healthy, young person passed by. This was often a woman, for reason I’ll tell you about below. The builder then measured the person’s shadow using a white piece of twine. Since a shadow is part of a person when the sun shines, the shadow could be used as a substitute for that person.

Using white may be due to a custom of measuring a dead person for a casket. In this instance, two threads of the material were used, a white one and a black one. The black one was buried with the deceased. The white one, however, was placed somewhere secure in the home, often under the eaves. The belief is that the deceased couldn’t take the luck of the house with him when he was buried. So, in the case of building in a shadow, the white one kept the luck in the building that was being built.

After rolling the measuring material into a ball, the builder buried it into the building’s foundation or wall. Within forty days, the measured person became ill and died. His or her spirit then became the building’s talasum.

Even today, you’ll find people in Bulgaria who believe that every major building has one of these talasums protecting it. If you go out between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m., you may run into the spirit. You will know the spirit is there because it’ll make some noise. If it’s a woman, she may be singing or weeping. A man’s spirit is likely to be playing a kaval, a shepherd’s pipe. The talasum may also appear as an animal, often a dog, bear, or wolf.

Don’t venture too close to the building, because the spirit will attack you.

Women were often those whose shadows were built into walls, at least in legends, particularly if she were nursing at the time. The woman’s fertility was symbolic of sustaining life. In addition, the woman was considered the keystone of the family, the one who kept the family strong. And so, builders believed that a woman’s shadow would be a stronger talasum than a man’s.

The most famous of these talasums in Bulgarian lore is for the Kadin Bridge, built in 1470. It spans the Struma River in a small village called Nevestino. The word “Kadin” comes from a Turkish word that means “of a bride,” making it “The Bride Bridge.” It is the sacrificed bride from which the river earns its name.

The story is one of deceit. When the river waters kept washing away the work Manol and his brothers achieved each day, they decided that they would sacrifice the first wife who came to the construction site the next day. Manol’s brothers warned their wives not to come, but Manol honored their agreement. The next morning his wife appeared and they built her into the bridge. She asked that that leave a hole so she could continue to nurse her son. People claim they can still hear the moans of a weeping woman around the bridge.

This legend inspired me. You will meet the spirit of Struma in our Dragon Village series.  In our story, however, Struma gets her revenge on those deceived her husband, Manol.

Kickstarter Campaign

We’ll be launching the complete Dragon Village series in the September/October timeframe. Here’s a preview of our campaign story.

Dangers lurk in Dragon Village, but also secrets. Can Theo solve the mysteries before an evil creature conquers the magical and human worlds?

Do you have an adventurous soul, ready to encounter strange magical creatures?Have you ever wished you could travel through a portal to another world?Do you love the reluctant hero, strong female friends, and quirky sidekicks?

If this sounds like you, then step through the gate into the magical world of Dragon Village.

Campaign link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/dragon-village

You can also find out more about talasums and other spirits in our book A Study of Household Spirits of Eastern Europe.

Kikimora, a Domestic Nuisance

If you’ve watched “The Witcher,” you’ll have encountered a variation of a kikimora in the first season. A swamp kikimora. However, that creature more resembles a bolotnik. This creature likes to frighten anyone who goes near the swamp, and she’ll kidnap children. Another type of kikimora lives in the forest and drags people away. These folks are never seen again. Some stories warn listeners to run if they see a kikimora in a pea field, especially if she’s carrying a large pan, because she’ll fry you on it if she catches you.

However, a kikimora who lives in your home is more of a gentle soul, not a monster that devours people. She’s quite the homebody and doesn’t stray. In fact, it’s quite difficult to get rid of her.

To give you an idea what she looks like, here’s a well-known illustration by Ivan Bilibin.

She’s a spirit who lives in your home. She’s restless and moving about all night long. You’ll know she’s there if you hear scratching noises in the walls and floors or pots and pan clattering. In the daytime, she slips away to hide in any crevice she can find. Often, this is behind a hearth or stove, to keep her warm. She’s also been known to hunker down in the cellar, attic, or under floorboards.

She won’t harm you, but you’re likely to be annoyed when you awake in the morning. If you’ve been working with knitting, crocheting, spinning, or sewing projects and have left it you, there’s a good chance she’s tangled it all up, made the stitches uneven, or even torn them out. She wasn’t trying to be mean. She merely wanted to help, but she’s no good at domestic activities.

Even though she always makes a mess of things, if she creeps out a night and finds that YOU have left your home untidy, she’ll have a fit. She’ll show her displeasure in various ways. She may moan, whistle, or whine, sounding like a spinning wheel. Like a pouty child, she may also stamp her feet, slam doors, and scrape chairs across the floor. If your kitchen is messy, she’ll make it even more so. She’ll clang your pots and pans and throw them around, and she’ll break dishes.

But, if you’re home is tidy (before she gets to it), she’ll also protect her family. She’ll warn you if there’s a fire (unless it’s her setting your kitchen towels in fire). She even has a little magic. With the wave of her handkerchief, she can drive the flames away.

She’s a forgiving spirit. If you’ve messed up—literally—and left an untidy house, you can make up for it th the next night by leaving her gifts. Bread and salt often appeal to spirits. She also has a particular fondess for ferns. Besides leaving some for her, you can wash your dishes, pots, and pans with water in which you’ve boiled ferns. That way, she’ll no longer damage the kitchenware.

We hope you enjoyed your visit with this interesting spirit.

Kickstarter Campaign

We’ve been busily finishing up the final book of our Dragon Village fantasy series. We’re now on the home stretch. The final two books are written, and are in the editing process. We plan to launch the completed series of all five books as our next Kickstarter campaign. The timeframe is late September or early October. Be sure to follow the campaign so you’ll be notified the moment it goes live.

Here’s a preview of our campaign story.

Dangers lurk in Dragon Village, but also secrets. Can Theo solve the mysteries before an evil creature conquers the magical and human worlds?

Do you have an adventurous soul, ready to encounter strange magical creatures?Have you ever wished you could travel through a portal to another world?Do you love the reluctant hero, strong female friends, and quirky sidekicks?

If this sounds like you, then step through the gate into the magical world of Dragon Village.

Imagine waking up to the rumble of falling water, the scent of spring, enveloping you with radiance and caressing your soul with the thrills of an intoxicating melody. You are next to a small pond where the frogs are lying on green water lilies. Leaves sway from the game of playful fish.

Above you rises the crown of a mighty tree, and on top of it shines like a sun the Firebird. Its colors are like Zuna, the rainbow, arching like a dome over your head. You are still sleepy and haven’t yet woken. From the tree emerges the image of the bird’s patroness, drifting like a morning mist with a soft smile on her marble face. She’s holding a crystal ball.

At the same time, a shadow covers the sky. Above you flies a herd of six-winged deer with glittering amber balls between their horns. Seated on them are women like Amazons, brandishing whips of snakes. The warriors descend with a thud onto the green grass. These beautiful and dangerous Samodivi are dressed in white robes. Their hair floods their bodies like wild foam.

Something disturbs the idyllic moment. The clanging of bells. A group of masked men dance madly. The belt of bells around their waists creates a din that chases away a Karakonjul, a half-man, half-horse creature. The beast shakes his head furiously and turns his one bloodthirsty eye toward you.

A screech adds to the clamor as a house on chicken legs approaches. On its chimney perches a winged purple cat. Not far behind, swimming through the air with a pestle and mortar, the infamous Baba Yaga orders her transportation about with oath after oath.

You try to hide behind the trunk of the tree, encouraged by the smile of the Firebird’s patroness, but something grabs you by the legs. Sharp nails dig into your skin. A bloated, green man with bulging, watery eyes tries to pull you under the water. A Vodnik, a water spirit. You manage to escape. You run, and run, and run. When you think you’ve succeeded, you fall into a dark forest of withered trees, whose bony arms stretch out to grab you.

Amber lights illuminate the trees. Are they fireflies?

No, they’re glass spheres, hundreds of spheres filled with souls.

You close your eyes hoping to wake up from this dream, nightmare. Silence …

Suddenly, hot air breathes onto your face. You open your eyes and scream. A gigantic dragon’s eye pierces your soul.

You close the book’s cover. For this was not a nightmare, but an adventure. You snuggle into your warm bed. Everything around is quiet. The monsters remain hidden between the pages … until you let them loose again the next evening.

This is the world of Dragon Village – Zmeykovo. The books will take you to a world full of familiar and unfamiliar creatures from Bulgarian and Slavic folklore. You will meet a young boy’s friends and experience their joys and sorrows.

Laughter, surprises, fear, nightmares … a recipe for a wonderful adventure.

To become a part of this adventure, join Ronesa Aveela’s Kickstarter campaign. The launch date is set for late September or early October. Sign up to follow it now so you’ll be notified the moment the campaign launches.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kickstarter, it’s a way to get products before the general public. You get not only the books, but also lots of other goodies you won’t find on any retail store. We have fun things planned for this campaign.

If you love DRAGONS, you won’t want to miss this opportunity.Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/dragon-villageDownload a FREE sample of the first three chapters of book 1 of the series, The Unborn Hero of Dragon Village.

Giant Protective Wreath

With the wonderful summer ritual of Eniovden arriving tomorrow, June 24, we’d like to share with you an excerpt from out book written about the herbs used in a magical wreath made especially for this celebration.

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The herbs collected are powerful, healing, enchanting, and dangerous—and so are the Samodivi, woodland nymphs, who, according to folkloric belief, tend to the plants and all forms of nature. On Eniovden, the 77½ herbs are twisted into a giant wreath for girls to pass through as a right-of-passage into adulthood. According to folk belief, the herbs in the wreath can break spells and drive away a dragon (zmey). It’s well-known that dragons love to capture girls for brides, so the girls need this extra protection as they near adulthood. The girls also place a wreath of herbs on their heads, to deter the zmey from loving them, because the wreath contains herbs that repel dragons and Samodivi as well.

Each of the herbs in the wreath has a special role. Some of the most important are Lady’s bedstraw (see more below), which gives its name to the holiday (Enyovche). It is added for health, while primrose brings wealth, and lemon balm ensures fertility and many children. Other herbs provide protection from evil forces and magic spells, such as primrose again, yellow sweet clover, cowslip, tansy, hellebore, iris, burning bush, and ivy.

Girls and women of all ages gather the herbs early in the morning before sunrise when their healing power is at their peak. If the gathering coincides with a full moon, that’s even better, because the herbs will be more potent. First, the participants must ask the Samodivi for permission to collect herbs on this magical day. The asking, however, is not done with words. The girls pick plants that grow around a holy spring, iazmo, because this is where the Samodivi like to spend their time. Holding each other’s hands, the females twirl around the herbs three times, in a silent horo, a circle dance. Then they immerse the herbs they’ve gathered into the Samodivi’s magical water, silent water, to fill the plants with the power of the nymphs.

If the girls fail to do everything properly, the herbs will become poisonous, not healing, and will be good for only black magic. Many folk songs tell tales of Samodivi who punished people with diseases for their misdeeds.

It’s also traditional to tie a red thread around Eniovden herbs and flowers to make a kitka (bouquet). The red color provides extra protection. People preserve these kitkas in their homes to ensure those living there are protected from diseases and troubles throughout the year. And healers use them to cure sicknesses. At the end of the year, families discard the kitka, its power having been depleted, and make a new one.

As a general rule, herbs are good for one year. This is the reason healers gather only amounts they need, to preserve the herbs for future use. Each healer has her own magical garden, which she keeps secret, to share only with the enchanting Samodivi.

You can learn more about Eniovden and other Bulgarian rituals in my book Light Love Rituals: Bulgarian Myths, Legends, and Folklore.

Galium verumYellow bedstraw

Description: The stem grows to a height of around 2 to 4 feet (60 to 120 cm). Groups of six to twelve thread-like leaves form a whorl around it. They are shiny and dark-green and have a hairy underside. Bright-yellow flowers gather in dense clusters at the top of the stem. They produce a smooth nut that splits in half when ripe. The plant’s roots are shallow.

History and Traditions: The genus name comes from the Greek word gala for “milk,” owing to the fact the plant was traditionally a way to curdle milk for cheese making and produce the yellow color of cheese. Verum is Latin for “true.” The plant gets its common name from medieval times, when the dried plants, which were soft and springy, were stuffed into mattresses, often for pregnant women. The herb’s scent not only acted like a flea repellent, it was also believed to help with a safe delivery. Other origins of the name say it refers to herbs found in the hay in Jesus’s cradle in the Bethlehem manger. In Scandinavia, the herb was called “Frigg’s grass” after the goddess of married women, and it was administered as a sedative to women giving birth.

Habitat and Distribution: Native to Europe and northern Africa, and it has been naturalized in North America and New Zealand. The plant grows abundantly in meadows and fields and along roadsides, and it is found in maritime locations.

Growth: Perennial. The plant blooms from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to September. It prefers dry or moist soil and grows in well-drained sandy, loamy, and clay soils, anything but the most acidic soils. It can flourish in full sun, although it prefers partial shade.

Harvesting: Flowers and leaves are used. Harvest the plant when it blooms. Spread the stems out in thin layers in a shady, well-ventilated area to dry.

Medical Use: In folk medicine, people wash their faces with a decoction to firm their skin or to relieve eye pain. It’s also drunk to stop nosebleeds. Combined with olive oil, the decoction is applied to the skin to relieve boils. Rinsing one’s head with an infusion of the herb is a treatment for dandruff, and creams with the herb are a treatment for psoriasis. Other uses are for fever, hoarse voice, stomachaches, painful menstruation, and depression. More serious afflictions it has been a remedy for include kidney and liver disease and epilepsy.

Rituals and Magical Use: This is one of the most important herbs woven into the giant Eniovden wreath. In Bulgarian folklore, the herb provides protection from Samodivi, dragons, and diseases (which were personified). The girls keep bouquets with the herb throughout the year, as it offers them protection and healing. Another Eniovden custom is to decorate a young girl with the herb and parade her around the village as Enio’s bride to commemorate an ill-fated love story about a girl named Stana and a boy named Enio. Fortune telling is another Eniovden ritual. The girls tie rings to the flowering herb and place them in water. The eldest woman from the village removes them one by one and predicts each girl’s future: to one wealth, to another a wedding, and so on. The yellow bedstraw herb also offers protection to pregnant women from Navi, demonic creatures that have a bird-like body and distorted baby’s head. These creatures are known for attacking pregnant women. When a woman is around seven or eight months pregnant, she passes through a large yellow bedstraw wreath three times for protection. The herb is also worn in belts to prevent back pain during the harvesting season. In another custom, yellow bedstraw is added to a child’s bath so he won’t suffer from polio.

Other Use: The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. The seeds are also edible and can be roasted as a coffee substitute. The stem and leaves or flowering top produce a yellow dye and food coloring, and the roots a red one, although the roots are too insignificant to make this a profitable venture. Adding a bit of the herb to your shoe is done to prevent blisters.

Other Names: Lady’s bedstraw, Our Lady’s bedstraw, yellow bedstraw, yellow spring bedstraw, maid’s hair, cheese rennet.

Aromatic: The flowers are odorless, but the dried plant smells like newly mowed hay. The herb has a bitter taste.

CAUTION:

Large doses can cause headaches, allergic reactions, and rashes.

Treating Wounds

Grind the herb into a powder, which can be sprinkled onto inflamed wounds. This is purported to protect against secondary infection.

Our Lady’s Bedding

A medieval legend says that the Virgin Mary gave birth on lady’s bedstraw and bracken. The lady’s bedstraw bloomed in recognition of the holy child, and the faithful plant’s flowers changed from white to gold. The bracken, however, refused to acknowledge Jesus, and as a result, it lost its flower.

If you enjoyed this sample, you can discover more about the herbs that are used in this magical wreath in our book 77 1/2 Magical Healing Herbs.

Dancing on Fire

The hot, humid days of summer will soon be upon those of us who live in the northern hemisphere. I look forward to warmer weather. Here in New England, the temps are up and down. We have a saying not to plant our gardens until after Memorial Day, for fear of frost.

Today, we’d like to tell you about another hot topic—fire dancing, or nestinarstvo. May 21 marks the celebration of Kostadinovden, the Day of Saints Constantine and Helena. You may be familiar with Constantine and his legalization of Christianize across the Roman Empire and making it the dominant religion. But, did you know he had an association with the fire dancing as well?

A popular legend says that God once looked for an assistant from among unmarried men to help Him manage people. God wanted to find a good way to test a person’s loyalty. Then an idea came to Him: a fire dance. He built a fire that burned toward the heavens. It burned for a long time. When only glowing embers remained, God said the whoever could walk on the coals with his bare feet would be His assistant. Only Constantine was brave enough to try. He danced on the coals unharmed, proving to God his heart was pure, and so he became God’s assistant. Constantine’s task thereafter was to make sinners dance upon the embers. This was done in an effort to burn away their sins, since people believed fire had magical powers to purify whatever passed through it—both objects and souls.

Even though fire dancing is an ancient ritual of pagan origins, St. Constantine, who was said to worship fire, permitted it to continue. However, the ritual was almost wiped out during the 1912 Balkan War. Today, it continues in remote parts of the Strandja Mountains, such as the village of Balgari, because these places were difficult to reach during the war.

The Thracian word nestia means “fire.” Some say nestinari originates from the Bulgarian word nistina or istina (truth), since the dancers were true Christian believers. Others say that Nestinarstvo comes from the Greek words for fasting (nisteía) and fire (estia), because prior to conducting the ritual, the dancers fast and abstain from alcohol and evil thoughts to prepare themselves with the sacred dance. Some texts say Thracians originally performed the ritual in honor of the Great Mother Goddess Bendis and her offspring, Sabazios, the Sun god.

In the time of the Thracians, priestesses performed the ceremony. They were considered to be sun brides and wore their headscarves in the same manner a bride did. Today both men and women participate, and either a man or a woman can be the lead dancer.

The ability to dance on coals is considered a divine gift, one often passed down within a family. This lead dancer chooses her replacement when she can no longer perform the ritual. Often the successor is a son or daughter, since people believe the parent passes on to his child not only the skill to walk on coals, but more importantly, the ability to predict the future.

The Nestinarstvo celebration is performed to ensure health and fertility, not only for people, but also for animals and land. It holds traces of Dionysian mysteries that mark the rebirth of nature and the world.

Those present at the dance form three or nine circles around the area where the dancers perform the ritual. These circles are associated with the Sun, the “Fire of Heaven.” Both fire and water are connected with the ritual. Fire has protective properties and increases the Sun’s divine power, while water has the capacity to heal. The dancers claim that while they are in a trance, the coals look as if they’re covered with water.

Magical aspects of the ceremony have also survived. In ancient times, the nestinari were leaders of the village. While they were in a trance, they contacted their ancestors, then made predictions and performed healings. Nowadays, nestinari claim reverence to the saints gives them protective power so they can dance on embers without injuring themselves.

Once they have entered a trance or prihvashtane (possession), the dancers feel pulled toward the fire with all their senses. The outside world disappears as they communicate with the saints. As they dance, they neither see nor hear what is happening around them while they leave their physical world and enter the invisible realm. The path they walk along on the embers is viewed as a temporary death, that allows them a new birth from which they receive knowledge from the beyond. They believe Saint Constantine embodies himself not only within the nestinari, but also within the instruments and music that play while the nestinari dance, much like a pagan belief that the gods could reincarnate themselves in sound and instruments.

To find out more about this and other Bulgarian customs, check out our book Light Love Rituals.

Dancing Away Evil

I spotted an article in The New Yorker magazine last week about a fascinating documentary by Killian Lassablière. Why am I sharing this you may ask? Because he portrayed the tradition of the Kukeri. This is one of the Bulgarian rituals that have fascinated me since childhood. I have memories of seeing the masks, the sound of the chimes and bells, and the flaming torches. It’s difficult to depict with words. You need to be there to see and feel the power.

This is why I include the ritual in my book Mystical Emona and also have Kukeri as characters in the Dragon Village series. These Kukeri, Jega, Mraz, and Zima, are depicted as powerful protectors, who use their magical abilities to ward off evil forces and ensure the safety of their village. They are closely connected to nature and the cycles of the seasons.

The Kukeri ritual is usually performed in the winter months, particularly around the winter solstice and New Year’s. The performers wear elaborate costumes that are often made of sheepskin or other animal furs and decorated with colorful ribbons, bells, and masks. The masks can be made of wood or leather and are carved to resemble animals, demons, or other mythical creatures. Some masks are also adorned with real animal horns or antlers.

The dance is traditionally performed by men, but in these more modern times, females also participate. The ceremony begins when the participants gather in a central location, such as a village square or a churchyard. The Kukeri dance through the streets, making loud noises with the bells that surround their waist and with other instruments. As they dance, they chant and sing songs to drive away evil spirits and bring good luck and prosperity to their community.

The Kukeri ritual is deeply rooted in Bulgarian folklore and mythology. The costumes and masks the performers wear have symbolic meanings that are connected to ancient pagan beliefs. For example, the animal furs represent the power of nature, while the masks represent the spirits of the ancestors and other supernatural beings.

This ancient tradition has inspired many artists and filmmakers over the years. The short film I mentioned above that was published by The New Yorker magazine, for example, features stunning footage of the Kukeri performers in action. The film also highlights the importance of preserving this ancient tradition for future generations.

As you may know, my books are inspired by Slavic and Bulgarian mythology and folklore. My latest project is no different. It is inspired by magical healing trees that possess the power to cure even the direst of illnesses. Mystical creatures like nymphs protect the trees and dance around them, casting spells and performing healing rituals. Others believe that gods, spirits, or saints protect the trees. If you’re ready to experience the magic of the forest like never before, please visit our project.

It’s Not Just a Tree

The cover of our forthcoming book, Magical Healing Trees in Slavic Folklore, is a painting that is part of Alphonse Mucha’s Slav Epic series. This series depicts key battles and cultural events among the Slavs. The first installment portrays a moment from the sixth to eighth century and is called “Slavs in Their Original Homeland.”

Our cover image is called “The Oath of Omladina under the Slavic Linden Tree.” In it, a youth organization called Omladina, from the 1890s, are swearing allegiance to the goddess Slavia, who sits in a linden tree.

This tree is among the most cherished among the Slavs. For me, growing in Eastern Europe, the linden was part of a tradition. Every year when the trees started to bloom, my mother gathered the flowers and dried them on old newspapers in a cold room. I can still imagine the fragrant aroma in that room. It was like entering heaven.

The soft, gentle scents were the pure perfumes of spring. Once the blossoms dried, my mother stored them in paper bags and used them throughout the year for tea. Linden tea was a miracle brew that my mother used to cure anxiety, cold, fever, sadness, broken hearts, runny noses, you name it… a universal herb. The gentle aroma soothed me when I was sick. And, each sip of the tea, which was mixed with lemon and linden honey, gently coated my throat. It was as precious as pure gold.

Flowers Blossoming Tree Linden Tree.

Among our ancestors, the tree has been dedicated to various Slavic deities, among them Svetovid, the Slavic god of war and abundance. Later on, after Christianization, the linden tree gained an association with the Virgin Mary. She was believed to live or rest among its branches.

Old trees such as the linden have been called saints. These are one of the species that people were forbidden from cutting down. To do so, meant death—either to the cutter or to someone in his family. A man who broke a branch from a tree was said to have gone berserk. He recovered only after he returned the branch. Others who cut down the tree became lost in the forest.

Stories circulated about trees that bled blood and not sap. One such tree was born out of a knee of a girl who was killed. This tree stood on the top of a mountain. Local people venerated it, much to the dismay of a priest. When he tried to cut it down, blood coming out of the tree blinded him.

To find out more about the linden tree and other trees sacred to Slavs, be sure to check out our Kickstarter campaign. We’ll be launching it on Tuesday, May 2, around 9 a.m. Eastern Time. If you follow the campaign now, you’ll be notified the moment the campaign launches. You don’t want to miss out.

Easter Excitement and Colorful World

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. Nature is beginning to wake up. First, the song of the birds ushers in the warmer weather, and they perform their spring dances and fill the air with love twills. After them come the daffodils, which look like the sun, brightening gloomy days. And brave white snowdrops shyly poke their heads out of the ground amidst piles of scattered snow.

Spring manages to bring a smile to many faces, a joy to our hearts, despite the news of worldwide tragedies. Perhaps because of them, we need to hold onto a small bit of hope that like nature, the world will thrive again.

As Easter approaches, more and more activity emerges from winter slumber, not only among nature, but also among people. The shelves in shops become like a rainbow, full of smiling bunnies and ducks, gift baskets, and an assortment of sweets. For others, it’s more a time to reunite with loved one, sitting around a table or visiting virtually, to celebrate the holiday and welcome the rebirth of nature.

One of my favorite holiday activities is to make the traditional kozunak bread. What is Kozunak? It’s a sweet-dough bread that is prepared on Easter, something very special in Bulgarian rituals. It looks like the Italian pane bread or the Finnish sweet bread called nisu. You can use walnuts as decorations for the crispy crust of the delicious bread.

Another favorite thing to do is to make colorful eggs. Sure, you can buy an abundance of colors, stickers, and other materials at any store to decorate your Easter eggs. However, when I was a child, I learned how to make my own decorations and colors from my grandmother. She used items from her garden and yard: onion peels, red beets, walnut shells and leaves, and more. To give the eggs a golden or yellowish-brown color, my grandmother boiled them in a decoction with walnut shells. She also used walnut leaves. Rose madder roots will give the eggs a beautiful red color. Coloring eggs this way is a tradition will used in Bulgaria today.

These days, I use a simpler, more creative, environmentally friendly way to decorate Easter eggs. With colored napkins, you can create masterpieces.

How do you do it?

First, you’ll need beautiful napkins, one paintbrush, a small pan, and one or two extra eggs (not to boil or decorate), depending on how many eggs you want to decorate.

Cut the napkins into small pieces or strips. Use a small paintbrush to apply a thin layer of egg white onto the egg. Then carefully place the napkin onto the egg, smoothing out any wrinkles or bubbles. Brush another layer of egg white over the top of the napkin to secure it in place. Repeat until the egg is covered in napkin pieces.Create a mosaic design by cutting the napkins into small squares of triangles. Apply egg white onto the egg in small sections, then carefully place the napkin pieces onto the egg to create a colorful mosaic pattern. Brush another layer of egg white over the top of the napkins to secure them in place.Use napkins to create a tie-dye effect by scrunching up small pieces of the napkin and wrapping them around the egg. Secure the napkin in place with egg white, then use a brush to apply more egg white over the top of the napkin. Repeat with different colors of napkins to create a colorful tie-dye effect.

You can make a theme for your Easter table. I love sunflowers and daisies and made the one in the picture below. The idea is to have fun and create a mood and coziness for everyone.

As I mentioned earlier, my grandmother used walnuts. In my opinion, walnut is a magic tree that has a special place in Slavic traditions. If you want to learn more about walnut and other magical trees, pleas follow our new Kickstarter project that will be launching in early May. The book will talk about Slavic customs and beliefs about tree, it contains 21 magical trees, for a total of 153 pages (print size 8.5 x 11 inches). And lots and lots of colorful pictures and illustrations. The book will follow the same layout as our earlier Herbs book. If you’d like to learn more about other Bulgarian customs, take a look at our book Light Love Rituals: Bulgarian Myths, Legends, and Folklore. We have an activity for coloring Easter eggs that you can try with your children.

Wishing you a blessed Easter holiday!

Sacred Forests

We’re deep into looking at trees these days, but we wanted to share this excerpt about a holy place in Bulgaria from the trees book we’re working on. Are there any such places where you live? Have your grandparents or other older people passed down stories of miraculous healing to you? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

The sacred site of Krustova Gora, Holy Trinity Cross Forest, in the Rhodope Mountains in southern Bulgaria, is a place of great spiritual significance and is well-known for its healing power. What gives it this ability is a piece of Christ’s cross, which stories say has been buried in Krustova Gora (Cross Mountain), at a location where the mountain forms the shape of a cross.

It’s interesting to note that the symbolism of the cross predates Christianity. In many ancient cultures, the cross has been viewed as portraying the tree of life, as well as being associated with the sun and fire. Among the ancient Thracians, the four directions of the cross have specific meanings. Although left has often been considered “sinister” in some cultures (and, in fact, the word sinister comes from a Latin word meaning “left), among the Thracians, that direction was the more sacred of the two.

Right and left to them represented the earthly and celestial realms, respectively. Rituals in which actions took place from right to left were ones that took the participant from a lower level of consciousness to a higher one. This was standard practice in blood sacrifice rituals and enabled a sick person to become filled with power.

North and south were also sacred directions among the Thracians. North was the direction associated with mankind and south for immortals and the souls of the blessed. Rituals that included right-to-left and north-to-south movements were an attempt to unify the earthly and heavenly realms with the goal of providing healing.

The holy relic at Krustova Gora is said to be one that Saint Helena gave to her son, Emperor Constantine. According to one story, this piece of the cross made its way to Kurstova Gora after a Russian tsar seized it from a Turkish sultan. Believing that the relic brought his troops and empire victories, the sultan sent his troops after the Russians. The latter had changed their route and arrived at Kurustova Gora and left the relic with the monastery. The monks living there buried the piece of the cross before they were killed during the subsequent invasion.

Church tradition states that Helena had gone in search of Christ’s tomb and discovered it in 326. She placed the cross in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, but kept a piece of it. On September 13, 335, the church was consecrated. The next day, the cross was displayed outside the church, where a congregation of people could venerate it.

In honor of this event, on the eve of September 14, Holy Cross Day or Feast of the Cross (official name of Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Creating Cross) many pilgrims travel to Holy Trinity Cross Forest, praying for God’s blessings to cure their illnesses. They climb the mountain peak for a vigil that ends when the sun touches a metal cross that has been erected there. This time of year is associated with the arrival of autumn, when the sun begins its journey toward winter. In mythology, it is the day when day and night crisscross, being of equal duration, called the crossover of the sun.

If you’d like to learn more about the holiday, check out our previous post on the subject: Hope & Miracles.

If you’d like to hear more about trees, we’ll be launching our Magical Healing Trees Kickstarter campaign in early May. The campaign and our eventual webstore will be the only places you can get a digital copy of the book. Print copies will be available later this year on retailers, but you can get an early copy through our campaign, plus other cool stuff we’ll be offering. Click the link to our campaign above to follow it now, so you’ll be notified when it goes live.

Also, we’re part of the Storytellers Oracle Deck project. You can find out more about this and follow the other authors on our website: Storyteller’s Oracle Deck. We will be offering the “Wisdom” card as part of this project.

A Tribute to Keazim Issinov

Don Quixote with brush, knight of good and love

I lost a good friend and mentor while I was vacationing in Italy recently. I’ve had the honor of being able to incorporate his paintings into our own work, to share them with those who may not have known this master artist. His memory will live on.

When I first saw his paintings, I was captured by the power of the light and their living colors. Only love, harmony, and positive emotions flowed from them.

For me, Kei’s paintings are designed to help us and future generations to remember love. If the earth is destroyed, I think we can recreate life from them. They have so much symbolism embedded within their strokes. He liked to say that when you paint, you need to think, observe and think carefully, until you know what message you would like to send to your audience.

He taught us and reminded us to cherish the love of simple things: the earth, the mother, the family, the fields, the sacred bread, the vineyards. They may be primitive for someone, but in my opinion, they are at the heart of people’s prosperity.

He taught us to stop and look at the little ladybug, listen to the song of the birds, or catch our breath and hear the silence of nature.

Under his brush, Orpheus’ love for his beloved Eurydice was reborn and turned into a beautiful tale. Love described in legends, but reborn on magical sails.

What can I say about his Madonnas? The light of mother’s love is radiated from every picture and envelops us like a gentle hug. We forget and become children, thirsty for love and caresses.

He taught us that every being deserves love and attention and that the power of nature was eternal and unbridled.

Hardly anyone else managed to capture the image of Reverend Stoyna. The saint gave her life to God and help for the poor and sick. He was able to paint her and capture her magnificent goodness power.

He used this phrase “All bad for good and every good for good!” It was another example of his way to teach us to be human and love each other.

I thought about writing a long article, but I don’t need to write it, because his canvas speaks and creates a universe, a magical tale without an end.

A knight of good and light who will always be among us with his excellent works, reminding us to love.

All illustrations are copyrighted by the artist. You can find more about Keazim on the website his son set up: https://www.facebook.com/issinov.