The Healing spring in Chernichevo - the mystical power of faith

In the village of Chernichevo - far, far away, in the southernmost of Bulgaria - there is a spring with a mystical power.

It is believed that when one has a deep faith, the water from the spring can cure its disease.

The legend is a very old one, but there are some specific anecdotes which proves its truth. For instance, the story of the little boy Stanko, who was three or four years old, but could not walk properly. Nowadays the doctors might say it is a medical condition, a diagnosis with a specific name, but in 1910 the local people did not know that.

When something does not go well, and there are no logical paths to solve it, faith was the only reliable thing.

So Stanko's mother, Zlatka, brought him to the spring and washed him with the crystal clean and cold water. When she brought him back home, she left him alone in the room and went to do same work. When she entered the house few hours later, for her astonishment, Stanko walked around. Well, Stanko could not walk well at the beginning, but soon he learnt how to.

And if you wonder is it true, let me tell you something - I am Stanko's grandson. I know this story from my cousins, and from my grandmother. And other people in the village remember this story. That is why the locals call this place the Healing spring (in the local Bulgarian dialect: Ликууто врисче).

Look at Mrs. Dobra Anadolieva from Chernichevo - she tells this story on the video:

And the Healing spring still has a sacred meaning for the people in Chernichevo. Every year on the 6th of May (for Christians it is St.George's day and for Muslims it is Hıdırellez) the inhabitants of Chernichevo visit the spring, drink his water, light candles, tie threads from their clothes on the trees around the spring, and wish something. 

This is the local female folk singing group, performing a song at the spring:

The Following Dance - an ancient dance from the Rhodope mountains

In the Rhodope mountains there is an unique ancient folk dance: the Following Dance (Bulgarian: Слядно хоро). This dance still exists in the small mountain village of Chernichevo. The great Bulgarian academician Lyubomir Miletich, who wrote about Chernichevo, claimed that this was a specific mournful dance, performed only once a year. And this is the truth.

The Christian community of Chernichevo danced the mournful dance each Good Friday, when Christians grieve about Jesus' death, and according to the tradition, it wasn't appropriate to dance fast and lively dances. Also the songs, sung with the dance, were sorrowful.

On September 28th, 2013, with the folklore group of the village, we presented some of the traditions in a famous TV show on air. The effect was just... sensational!

The Following Dance is special in the way in which people dance. In difference with the ordinary dances, when people stay shoulder to shoulder (see examples 1 and 2),  in this dance the dancers follow each other. Women and men dance separately, not together (the dance in the TV show was an exception, just to illustrate the know-how). Women follow one another by putting hands around the waists, and the men by putting hands on their shoulders.

We also know that during the Balkan wars gangs of Ottoman volunteers (aka bashi-bazouk) killed about 90 people from Chernichevo. Prof.Miletich wrote that a year later the people in Chernichevo still were in grief for their victims, therefore they didn't dance their playful dances. Instead, they danced only the Following dance, which as we noted previously, was performed only once per year. And even today, the local peasant still speak with a deep sorrow about their relatives, who died in the massacres. This was a collective trauma that still resonates in the locals' souls.

Additional curious fact is that several decades ago the great Bulgarian composer and arranger of folk songs Filip Kutev used the Following Dance for one of his spectacles! On its basis he created a male dance with the same steps. 

Concert in the Community center of Cherichevo, December 14th 2013

On 14th of December there was a pre-Christmas and New year meeting in the Community center of Chernichevo. One of the highlights in the event was the performance of the local amateur folk group. The small village from the Eastern Rhodopes is struggling to preserve its traditions and folklore. This year the group won a silver medal at the international Balkan Folklore Festival in Nedelino town. 

The building of the Community center is just like everything else in the village: well built few decades ago, but badly maintained today. As you can see in the video, the conditions in the Community centers are miserable - a falling plaster, a damaged electrical installation, a leaking roof. In this poor mountain area where the closest town is 25 kilometers away, life is hard. Private and public properties bear the signs of decline because of the lack of funding, but the singers deserve admiration for their devotion and will! What do you think drives these Bulgarian women? 

I think there are two reasons: first, they really want to keep and share their cultural heritage. Since their songs are part of their local culture and identity, by singing them, they build their sense of satisfaction from who and what they are, and strengths their sense of community. This is a very healthy approach. And second, their participation in the folklore group makes their life more diverse and interesting - they hold weekly meetings, or travel for some fests around the region, and they even have sung in a TV show. 

Lets wish them good luck!