In today's age saturated by modern technology, people are increasingly returning to the forgotten traditions of the past. Seeking a healthier lifestyle, some people study the ancient customs and read books about how our ancestors prepared their food. Hardly anyone will be surprised at the claim that the flour ground by the older technology has a different taste. Like most things in the material culture of the Bulgarians, the watermill is not only a necessity. The connection of people with the provision of their daily bread is one of the reasons this useful facility is wrapped in mystery. What is the Bulgarian tradition in this respect, what legends and superstitions are linked to the image of the mill in Bulgarian folklore?
Millers in the past were those people whose job was to make flour from different cereals. The songs about millers that we can hear in all parts of Bulgaria are usually happy and playful tunes.
And here is one of the most popular stories described in songs – a girl or a young bride asks the miller to grind the wheat. He refuses because there is no water in the mill. At this point, the young woman makes a flirty and in a way bold promise - "My lips will be yours”. Suddenly the miller finds water and the job is done. Bulgarians in the past used to associate the continuous movement of the mill-wheel with a number of phenomena of life. For a talkative person we might say: "His mill never stops milling." There are also folk songs in which the question: "Does your mill work?" asked to an elderly man may sound ambiguous and contains an erotic subtext.
The sense of humor and the ambiguity in the lyrics of folk songs about the watermill contrasts strongly with the legends and beliefs connected with watermills and the place around them. The place where the mill was to be built was specially chosen. Above all, it had to be close to a natural water source - usually a river, that was full of water most of the year. Yet, this immediate proximity to water created huge problems in the building process. As with the construction of bridges, it often happened that what was built during the day would collapse overnight. In order to have stron foundations, the shadow of a living person had to be incorporated in them. Many legends are dedicated to this somewhat sinister belief. Usually, the perosn whose shadow was walled up in the foundations would soon fall rather sick and die. But his or her soul remained hovering around the place. It was believed to go out at midnight, to sing, and shout incomprehensible words. Therefore, no one dared go near the mill at night. People believed that if the shadow met someone, it would turn into a dog, bear or other animal, and would attack them.
The mystical image of the watermill in Bulgarian folklore is reinforced by the fact that its driving mechanism is water. One of the basic elements of life used in all the world, water is a symbol of purity. It has the power to spoil the magic and to set a new beginning. Bulgarian people believed that the water under the mill wheel had healing properties. Legend has it that devils, fairies and nymphs inhabited the area around the mill. They came out at night and bathed in the water under the wheel, and thus it acquired magical powers. They also believed the water of the so-called “left” mill had the strongest healing power. This refers to the mill whose wheel throws the water to the left. There were even love spells done with this water – the girl or boy had to take water from such a mill and sprinkle their loved one with it. There were also other rituals performed using this purified and magical water.
Translated by Rossitsa Petcova
