Bulls are angels: St. Vlass day superstitions

published on 2/10/10 11:10 AM

St. Vlass day superstitions

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In times long past bulls used be sacred animals for farming communities. Here is the story of traditional homage accorded to farming bulls.

Traditional belief has it that the Earth is propped up on the horns of a bull. Traditionally this sacred bull is said to have a shepherd and a Moor keeping guard on both his sides. Whenever the bull shakes his horns this brings about an earth tremor. Other traditional beliefs say that the Sun itself rides perched on the back of a bull. This accounts why the bull is frequently assumed to be a symbol of the heavenly body. Most importantly, however, the bull is a farmer’s main beast of draught. Hence the proverb” the bull feeds the world”. Farming communities respected deeply the bulls they kept. Tradition commanded that no one or nothing should ever cross the path of a bull or a cart with bulls in harness, i.e. the animals should have right of way. Village folk viewed these powerful, unruffled and rather placid animals as angels. They would even call a bull a sire, as they accorded him the respect due to parents. When bulls would grow old the farmer would just let them live their old age out in peace to finally commit them to the ground with honours.

There is a Bulgarian folk tale about a destitute young boy that hadn’t a thing to its name except for a male calf, given him by his godmother. The boy grew up to be a fine young man. One day he asked his mother to give him a penny so that he bought himself, like all his friends, something to be his own. His mother told him with great sadness that he was so unfortunate and luckless that even the calf, given in present by the godmother, though already grown-up, was not giving any issue. Saddened and in desperation the young man asked his mother to bake a loaf of bread and let him take the barren cow to the woods. And so he did. The young man led his cow deep into the woods and left it there all alone. Sometime on, however, the young man went back to the woods to check what had happened to the cow. He found the cow had survived intact and actually spoke to him in a human voice. The cow asked him to go back home, to build a big barn and a lofty house with handsome verandas. And then glance back over the way he had come back from the woods. When he did as he’d been ordered he looked up and lo! He couldn’t believe what he was seeing - there was stepping a pair of two handsome bulls, as handsome as angels, and a herd of cattle following at their heels. When they came up to the young man’s house the pair of bulls spoke to him and advised him to sell the cattle and buy himself an iron cart and a hardy bone plough with the proceeds. He was to harness the bulls to the cart and then go to pay a visit to the king who had been promising to give all he possessed to the ploughman who succeeded in ploughing all his lands in one day. Many had tried but had dismally failed and consequently lost their lives. The young man did as the bulls bid him. He set about ploughing the royal lands and was making very good progress. Witnessing the young man’s very real challenge the king called in a friend sorceress and dispatched her to cast a spell on the ploughman and prevent him from going through with the job. However, the pair of bulls, harnessed in the plough, saw what was being done to the young man and rushed to help their master. One decided to toss the Sun up, high above the horizon, to make the day last longer. The second bull gave such a might kick to the Earth that it shook and brought the charmed ploughman back to his senses. The young man buckled down to the task and managed to plough all the royal lands before the sun set down. The bulls then reminded him to go back to the king and claim what was due him. And so it happened that the young man came back from the royal palace with an overloaded cart of treasures thanks to the pair of miraculous bulls.

The Bulgarians have apportioned a special day to bulls in their traditional feasts calendar- the Day of St. Vlass, marked on 11 February. Superstition has it that on St. Vlass day bulls strip off a set of 9 iron belts, encircling their bodies. That is why bulls are not to be harnessed to a cart or a plough on that day and must be left in peace to rest. Housewives traditionally bake special ritual loaves of bread to honour bulls. In some parts of the country the ritual loaves would be fixed to the bull’s horns and would then be given to sacred animals to feed on and be healthy and strong. In still other parts women would give out the loaves to neighbours, broken into pieces, imitating the way bulls shake their horns and bellow. This accounts for the local name of the day” Mooing day”.

English version by Margarita Dikanarova

По публикацията работи: Roumyana Panayotova

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Bulls are angels: St. Vlass day superstitions

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