From "Once upon a time - manners and worldview of the Bulgarians"
The Orisnits
The people call them orisnitsi or nareknisi. The three women who, on the third day after the birth of a child, go to his house at night and determine his fate. The orisnitsi are of different ages. They stand above his head and the youngest one starts. Then the middle one and finally the oldest one. The power of the last one is the greatest. She can cancel what the first two have said or confirm it, she can also call it herself. The decision of the orisnitsi is unchangeable and no one can know it. Some midwives claim that they have heard when the orisnitsi calls. If someone guesses what the orisnitsi have said and tries to change it, they are punished. Only if the person has been told that he will die soon, his loved one can grant him a certain number of years, taking them from their own.
The orisnits are a symbol of fate, of the path we must follow in life, of what is destined for us and does not directly depend on our free will.
The Dragon
Dragons are superhuman beings who resemble humans. Sometimes they take human form, other times they take snake form. They have wings and possess great strength. A dragon is a creature that walks on the edge. It can be good or bad with people. It usually protects the village it lives next to. But it often steals the most beautiful maidens.
Symbolism in our folk art – Bread
Dragons live in caves, high rocky mountains. From there they descend to the fields and lords to protect them from the dragon. Or they fly into the sky and chase away the hailstones so that they don't destroy the harvest. They have wives and children, but they are not very faithful husbands. They often fall in love with the village beauties and on some holiday they appear like a whirlwind and kidnap the girl. But they take her to another lair, separate from their family. There the human woman gives birth to the dragon's children, who are dragons like him. If a girl possessed by a dragon goes home and gives birth, the child can be recognized as a dragon if it has wings under its arms. Then it becomes a special guardian of the village and everyone honors it.
When a baby dragon was born, the grandmothers would knit, weave, cut and sew all night. They would make a special shirt. They would put the shirt on the baby dragon when the sun licked the peaks. The shirt would protect the baby dragon from its hot rays and from bad people. In addition, the shirt would always show him where the place where they had loved him since he was a baby was... People knew that in this way the baby dragon would always return to its place and protect its native village.
The dragon is a symbol of wisdom and knowledge, of control over emotions and feelings. A symbol of the beginning and the end, merged into one. A symbol of happiness, but only if the person is good. It can also mean a guardian, someone with strength and power, but also with a dual character. It can be an indicator of a person who is not guided by emotions and feelings, but acts on the basis of order, rules, reason and logic.
© 2023 Iliana Dechkova