From "Once upon a time - manners and worldview of the Bulgarians" (see in the Shop)
Nestinarstvo - the Bulgarian phenomenon
The roots of this typical Bulgarian custom can be traced back to pagan times. The history of chimney making can be traced all the way back to the Thracians. Our ancient ancestors worshiped the Sun as a god and believed in immortality. Fireworks are believed to have originated in the Dionysian rites. The exclamations "iakhe" that came from the mouths of the participants in the Dionysian Mysteries, today sound like "ih" and "eh" among the Nestinarians. Ethnologists believe that the word "nestinar" has a Greek origin and comes from "anastenazo" (exclaim, breathe). Nestinars in Bulgaria, however, say that they inherited the custom from their grandparents as a purely Christian duty - if they observe it, they are healthy and reap a rich harvest, if not - a period of disease and poverty ensues for their community. It is also assumed that the fire-making was brought from Asia, passing through Russia, from where the Bulgarians brought it.
Символиката в народното ни творчество – Хлябът
The legend tells ("Psychology and Medicine", 2011) , that when the Bulgarians from a village went to Russia and settled near the Volga River, they, according to an old custom, did not take with them the icons, the cloths of the holy drum, that is why they buried them in the ground. One of the chimney sweepers, Makro Marula, became sad for her birthplace. One day when she was sitting on the bank of the big river an old man appeared to her and said to her "Why are you crying?" She answered him: "For the buried property." He said to her: "Take the cloth from your head, spread it over the river, sit on it and you will go across the sea in your places." Said, done. It went down the river, from there into the sea and then along the Kostinska river (today the Veleka river). She reached the village of Pripor, dug up the buried icons and revived the custom. After her, others returned from Russia. One part of them settled in the village of Vulgari, others in Kosti and Mzhzera. This Macro Marula was considered to be the progenitor of the current nesting industry.
Another legend tells ("Psychology and Medicine", 2011) for the 75-year-old grandmother Nuna. When she was 7 years old, her father, a village butcher, was caught by robbers. It was 10 days before St. Elijah. In order to save himself, he promised to sacrifice a goat, but he did not do it. Their whole family died, only she remained alive. Once when she was bleaching canvas, she saw a handsome man coming to her, she got scared and ran away home. But as soon as she entered her room, she saw him again. She passed out. When she sobered up, the young man spoke and ordered to predict. After what happened, she got sick. During her one-year illness, she often saw 12 men, with whom she shook hands, talked as if with living people. She was watched by her aunt, a big firecracker. Once she took her to the Nestinar's inn. She told her what to do to get better. She did the same and recovered. No one knew what she told her, it was a secret. On the first holiday, the little girl played in the fire for the first time. When she got married, she stopped making fireplaces.
At the age of 52, she became a widow and resumed the stove business. There were cases when she stood in the fire for up to 4 hours and nothing happened to her. When she played, she heard nothing, saw nothing, felt nothing. Sometimes she saw St. Konstantin to walk before her like a little boy with a copper in his hand and water the fire in which she was playing. And where he watered, there she stepped and that's why she didn't burn. For the others, fire was visible, and for her – ashes. When she played in the fire, she said what the saint told her, but after that she remembered nothing of what was said. When she played, as if her heart were taken, as if she were flying, her hands then made movements against her will, that is why this is not to be mocked. For her local population, she was something of a saint – she looked after beans, gave wise advice for family problems, and treated people with traditional medicine.
According to Georgi Radev, a teacher in the village of Vulgari from 1925 to 1931 and a witness to their games, he claims that the custom was purely Bulgarian. Nestinara women drank brandy but never got drunk. The interception was hereditary, because all nesters in their family always had a nester. The Nestinars seemed to be a special religious group, separate from the other villagers. They all gathered from time to time at Nuna's house to learn some things and to plan the celebration of some Nestinarian holiday. He led a pious life. They had a Nestinarian holiday, which they jealously guarded. When the firemen lined up around the fire before their fire dance, the bagpiper and piper stood on the east side and they on the west side. And he gave them an identical description of the games of the hearth women in the fire. ("Psychology and Medicine" under the editorship of Assoc. Dr. Nadezhda Madzhirova, author's team. Medical Publishing House Raykov, Plovdiv, 2011)
Keratsa, the chimney sweep, said that during the seizure she did not know what was happening to her. Something made her play with fire, but she didn't feel it at all. During the game, she did not know where she was, but she could hear everything that was being said around her. Keratsa herself said about herself that she was very nervous. When she played in the fire St. Constantine walked in front of her and sprinkled the fire. She played to atone for her own and others' transgressions. During the meeting with various firecrackers, they all stated that "they could play with impunity in the fire, but only when they were caught". ("Psychology and Medicine" under the editorship of Assoc. Dr. Nadezhda Madzhirova, author's team. Medical Publishing House Raykov, Plovdiv, 2011)
Nestinarism is a set of rites and traditions built up over the centuries and performed by a community organized hierarchically. The most interesting part of the ritual is walking on hot coals, but this is far from exhausting its essence. This ancient custom has been preserved to this day. The custom was widespread until 1912, after which it was preserved in 1-2 villages. According to P.R.Slaveykov, these Igrinestinar games took place in the Bulgarian villages of Blatsa, Majura, Perigopulo, Rezhovo and Mrzevo and the Bulgarian-Greek villages of Brodilovo, Agio-Stefani and Kosti. Today we can observe it in the legendary village of Bulgari, which is located in Strandzha, 18 km from the town of Tsarevo. To date, this is the only Nestinarian settlement in our country, although there are only 134 permanent residents left in it.
The nestinartsvo ritual is performed on the feast of St.St. Constantine and Elena – on June 3 and 4. Everyone from the village participates in the celebration, but the fire dance is performed only by the "enlightened", the chosen ones of the saint, patron of the celebration. Some say that during the dance, the Nestinars see his image and hear his voice. In the distant past, mostly women performed this rite. It was believed that entering the fire with bare feet atoned for the sins of the whole village. Today, although rarely, we can also meet male chimney sweeps. This is definitely not an inherited gift, but charisma. Fire itself chooses its dance masters.
How does the rite go?
Nestinars have their own closed society. One of all the firemen, usually the oldest woman who has the best fire-playing skills and the gift of foretelling the future, declares herself Chief. Both the Nestinars and the whole village agreed with her opinion. The will and decision of the Chief Nestinarka is executed without question. Before being taken to play in the fire, the icons are dressed in shirts. Sewing these shirts was the right and duty of the Main. But his most important role was to determine the most honest and godly man in the village - the so-called Epitropus. The last Chief Nestinarka of the village of Bulgari is Zlata Daskalova, and according to the inhabitants of the village, her predictions about the future of Bulgaria since 1940 have always come true.
The holiday begins with the celebration of a divine liturgy. Everyone gathers in the square, and a young man, necessarily a bachelor, carries out the icon of St. St. Constantine and Elena. The procession goes to the chapel of the saints to the accompaniment of drums and bagpipes. On this day, the water that springs under the chapel is healing and miraculous. Icons are washed with it, and people drink it for health and wash their faces.
Already at noon, the ritual fire is lit, 40-50 cars of wood. Then they sat around the tables and the bagpipes started playing. When the trees turned into a nice ember, the villagers got up and started lighting candles and began to pray holding their home icon of St. Constantine and Elena. After dusk the procession sets off. It is led by the Epitropa of the village, elected by the Head. Young boys carry the holy icons. The crowd goes around the church, and the firemen enter the fire to the sounds of an uneven specific rhythm of the drum and the bagpipe. The embers are hot over 400°C, and the dancers call out "Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" and "Oysy-oysy-oysy". Some sprinkle embers on themselves. The whole game on fire lasts about 20 minutes. Then the nestinars lead the chorus, to which everyone lines up for health and success. According to their belief, the more firecrackers there were on the fire, the greater the blessing would be during the year. Real nestinars used very little alcohol. After crossing the fire several times, the fireman quickly ran to the nearby grove. Slaveykov describes the bride to the people he stayed with to observe this phenomenon. "As she held her child, "she was pale, cold, and in a cold sweat. Then she began to turn red and immediately threw her child in front of her mother-in-law and cried tu-tu-tu-tu here it is tu-tu-tu, squealed, ran and jumped into the fire to play with the others and from there went to the village.
It is curious and proven many times that objects caught in the fireplace fire do not burn (eg tissue). It is also a fact that the skin on the feet of the firemen after dancing in the fire is soft and tender, with no traces of burns (proved during a medical examination). It is also said that a hearth that falls into the fire simply gets up and continues without burning itself. The nestinari themselves cannot explain their gift, they think it was given to them from above.
Dancing on embers, called firework, is a bridge between the past and the future and shows a small piece of our cultural heritage. Although it has existed in Europe for centuries, today it is something unknown and mystical, unique - a mystery that leaves many unanswered questions. Nestinar is one of the most ancient pagan customs in the Balkans.
© 2023 Iliana Dechkova