#thebalkans

Stolovi, Serbia

I just remembered that today, in Bulgaria, we celebrate the day of St. Anne. Even though I am not the religious type, I have a couple of friends having that name and decided to wish them a happy name day. While doing so, I checked out a few facts on the Internet and found some of them very interesting. I will share some of them here.

I am not going to talk about the meaning that the church implements to this day. On the contrary, I will list down a few things my ancestors used to believe in and do on this day. Check them out!   

Women prepare corn and wheat and give it away to assure the abundance of crops during the year.

It is a common belief that all spells cast tonight will be successful. The best place to do the ritual is at the cemetery.

Witches dressed as flies (moths) go from house to house to cause harm. If someone kills a fly over a candle, then he succeeded in killing one of those witches.

Young and pregnant women should not work today so they can make their labor easier.

Mothers should not work so their kids stay healthy during the year. 

Working with wool is forbidden so the cattle stay healthy and the shepherds safe from wolves.

In some regions, the day is considered as a very dangerous one. 9th of December is the day of the Samodivas. Men should not go outside the village as they may meet one of these creatures and get themselves killed.

Mithras and the cosmic egg 🥚

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Mithras was a god of the ancient world. Belief in Mithra or Mithras spread from modern-day Iran across Europe and gained popularity during the 1st and 4th centuries CE, particularly in the Roman empire. There is a whole mythology and culture attached to Mithras (both in Persian culture, as well as in the Greco-Roman one).  An interesting part of Mithras’ story is his actual birth.

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As with most mythology from that time and place, some stories are contradictory and characters overlap. There are two distinct creation stories of Mithras; the first involves a stone and a bull, however, I will be focusing on the other story. In this version, Mithras emerged from a cosmic egg, entwined with a snake. He is often depicted standing on the bottom half of the egg, encircled by a snake, with the top-half of the egg, still on his head, functioning as a hat

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In the Balkans, snakes were revered as wise and powerful creatures. There are multiple creation myths and characters involving serpents in Balkan traditions (keep in mind, I am referring to the pre-Christian era, before the concepts of original sin and an evil, satanic snake were introduced)

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Taking these factors into account, the idea of a humanoid god emerging from an egg, accompanied by a snake would make sense. The egg and snake motifs remain in the Balkans to this day. Superstitions about guardian serpents (“bolla e shtëpisë” among Albanians), snake carvings on structures (the gates of St. Nikola’s church in Serbia), even snake motifs in clothing and the egg-shaped white skull cap worn by Albanians in the present day are all throw backs to the worship of Mithras and Eurynome (but that’s another story for another post 😉)

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Swipe for a closer look at examples of egg and serpent motifs in the Balkans

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