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Verbal Magic in Daily Life in Medieval and Early Modern Bulgaria By Doctoral Dissertation Charms, Amulets, and Crisis Rites: Verbal Magic in Daily Life in Medieval and Early Modern Bulgaria By: Svetlana Tsonkova Supervisor(s): Gerhard Jaritz Gábor Klaniczay Submitted to the Medieval Studies Department Central European University, Budapest in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval Studies, CEU eTD Collection Budapest, Hungary 2015 1 Lead amulet against the nezhit, tenth-eleventh century, excavated in the medieval fortress of Odŭrtsi, CEU eTD Collection northeastern Bulgaria. (After [Kazimir Popkonstantinov] Kазимир Попконстантинов. “Заклинателни молитви върху оловни амулети от средновековна България и паралелите им в требници от средновековна Сърбия” (Conjuration prayers on lead amulets from medieval Bulgaria and their parallels in euchologia form Medieval Serbia). Зборник радова Византолошког института/Recueil des travaux de l’Institut d’études byzantines 46 (2009): 341-351.) 2 Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 5 I. Framework ....................................................................................................................... 7 1. 1. Magic in everyday life ............................................................................................ 7 1. 2. Verbal charms ....................................................................................................... 14 1. 3. Amulets ................................................................................................................. 27 1. 4. Crisis rites ............................................................................................................. 30 2. Sources .......................................................................................................................... 36 2. 1. Description ............................................................................................................ 37 2. 2. Influences .............................................................................................................. 54 2. 3. State of scholarship ............................................................................................... 56 3. Features ......................................................................................................................... 61 3. 1. Elements, structures and forms ............................................................................. 61 3. 2. Stability and variation ........................................................................................... 67 3. 3. Transmission ......................................................................................................... 69 4. Functions ....................................................................................................................... 71 4. 1. Health .................................................................................................................... 75 4. 2. Protection .............................................................................................................. 77 4. 3. Success .................................................................................................................. 79 5. In the Other world – supernatural powers ..................................................................... 80 5. 1. Typology ............................................................................................................... 80 5. 2. The evil ones ......................................................................................................... 84 5. 2. 1. The illness ..................................................................................................... 85 5. 2. 2. The witch .................................................................................................... 107 5. 2. 3. The snake .................................................................................................... 129 5. 3. The good ones ..................................................................................................... 142 5. 3. 1. The saint ...................................................................................................... 143 5. 3. 2. The shepherds ............................................................................................. 150 5. 3. 3. The sisters ................................................................................................... 160 5. 4. Good vs. Evil ...................................................................................................... 168 6. In Our World – human processes................................................................................ 180 6. 1. Ritual performance.............................................................................................. 183 6. 2. Amulets in action ................................................................................................ 196 6. 3. Practitioners ........................................................................................................ 203 7. Outcome ...................................................................................................................... 211 8. Catalogue .................................................................................................................... 216 9. Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 246 CEU eTD Collection 3 CEU eTD Collection 4 “A shaman and a researcher, therefore, do not seem to fundamentally differ from one another. In order to achieve a viable result, they both have to act as good translators or interpreters.” (Anzori Barkalaja, “Some Personal Notes about the Fieldwork”1) Introduction Among its many treasures, the Rila Monastery preserves a source on Bulgarian magic. It is a colorful mural painting on the external wall of the main church2. The image represents cunning women, curing a line of ill people, with the help of devils and evil spirits. The accompanying Old Church Slavonic inscription says: The [female] magicians and the [female] charmers are servants of the Devil. That is why the Devil is very glad, jumps around and dances in front of those who come to them. What the charmers give them to drink and eat is Devil’s filth. Those who abandon God, the laws and the church, and go to the charmers, are servants not of God, but of the Devil. Does this fresco represent a fact or a stereotype? Is this painting only a visual expression of ideologically charged artistic program? Is this a real magical or curative practice, which the image employs for didactic purposes? Are there other sources, providing some kind of reference point? Is it methodologically possible and acceptable to use this nineteenth-century fresco as a source on medieval Bulgarian magic? Is it a single exotic and problematic specimen, unsusceptible of comparison and interpretation? The fresco and the questions around it are good illustrations of the general difficulties in the research of the medieval and early modern Bulgarian magic. Its CEU eTD Collection 1 Anzori Barkalaja, “Some Personal Notes about the Fieldwork (On the Examples of the Eastern Khantys)”, in Rethinking Ethnology and Folkloristics, ed. Pille Runnel, (Tartu: NEFA Rühm 2001, pp. 144-158), p. 157. 2 The Rila Monastery was founded in the tenth century, with a number of subsequent enlargements and reconstructions. Built on the foundations of a demolished medieval church, the current main church wass finished in 1837. The frescoes, including the quoted mural painting were finished in 1846. 5 existence is hinted and its nature seems to be an alloy of aboriginal and borrowed, of canonical and non-canonical, of stereotypes and realities. However, the authentic information is fragmentary, insufficient and often non-contemporary to the original phenomenon. There are a few primary textual and visual sources to rely on, among which the proper medieval material is even scarcer. There are no magical treatises; no witch trials documents nor images of wizards and their rituals. The archeological findings are relatively more abundant, but not systematized. As a whole, the medieval and early modern Bulgarian magic remains an intriguing, but enigmatic and elusive phenomenon. However, there is one kind of magic, which is much more accessible for an examination. This is the verbal magic, documented in a relatively large number of extant verbal charms, preserved in manuscripts and on amulets, and dated from the tenth to the nineteenth century. Although less spectacular than the colorful mural painting from the Rila Monastery, these verbal charms are crucial primary sources. Consenting with or contradicting to the fresco, the charms and their material carriers definitely show a much broader and richer picture. If the painting provides a problematic glimpse through a thin crack, the charms open a window and let us have a proper and clearer look. They give a relatively stable reference point: authentic information on the verbal magic and its continuity of motives, beliefs and practices. And while in the supernatural sphere, the verbal charms actually offer a view into the ordinary everyday human life. My thesis takes up this rare opportunity. It looks at the verbal charms with a CEU eTD Collection particular focus on their supernatural figures and quotidian roles. The Other world and Our World
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