Both despised and revered, the serpent is a key image with a deep mythological meaning in the Bulgarian traditional culture. On the other hand, the reptile was seen as a capital enemy of humans, often identified with Satan. This notion has been reinforced by Christianity and its imagery where Satan appears to humans like a snake in a bid to tempt them and throw them out of Eden. In a few dialects, there is a taboo on uttering the words for serpent: it was believed that once it heard its name it would appear. So, the notions of snake or serpent were replaced by other words, such as devil, evil or beast. Its image as a guileful and dangerous creature shows in the following riddle: "An old woman was lying on the earth saying, Woe to whoever treads upon me".

The sinister symbolism of the serpent is displayed in the notion that it nests in dead people’s bones and drinks from their eyes. As seen in church murals, one of the most horrendous sufferings of sinners in hell are caused by serpents. A few frightful stories are told about black winged snakes coming from hell to do mischief to humans and domestic animals. It was believed that if a reptile remains unseen for longer than 40 years, it transforms into a dragon. According to a legend, a serpent drank out one of the sun’s eyes so as to prevent it from burning down the earth with its heat. That is why, when a man kills a snake, the sun rejoices.

In the serpents’ kingdom, a special place was given to the grass snake, a non-poisonous snake that reaches up to 2 m in length. Its Bulgarian name "smok" derives from the Bulgarian verb for suck ("smucha"). This is associated with the belief that grass snakes loved drinking milk. With its special eyes the grass snake cast a spell on cows that would leave it to suck from their milk, and were back to the farm at night with no milk at all. In a bid to drive the intruder away, the cow should be showered with some herbs of parting – just like a girl courted by a dragon should be rescued. The grass snake also liked human milk, so breastfeeding moms used to protect themselves with cloves of garlic or with a special herb called pulchets.

Apart from being poisonous and dangerous, serpents had the magic powers of bringing health and fertility. Their first creep in spring time was believed to be particularly healing. In the popular tradition, it took place on 1 March, on Mladentsi Feast (9 March) or on Blagovets Feast or Annunciation Day (25 March). This was the time for sick persons and childless women to leave their clothes in the fields, hoping that snakes would creep over them. Women wishing to become pregnant used snake skin to wind up around their waists, and a snake’s head was put into the seeds for the sake of a good harvest. There was a powerful belief that whoever had with him serpent’s eggs would be immune to bullets. Serpents were in the know of the magic properties of plants, and so they were associated with witches and herb healers. In is not for nothing that the old woman from the forest in the tale about the Girl of Gold raises serpents and lizards as domestic animals. 

Serpents and healing had another thing in common: the use of serpent venom for treatment that humans have practiced since ancient times. This shows in the images of the classical antiquity god of Asclepius who carries a snake as his attribute, wherefrom the present-day logo of pharmacies derives. It depicts a serpent wound up around a glass. Well, modern urban folklore comes up with a different interpretation of this symbol: jesters say this represents a woman eating ice-cream.

English version Daniela Konstantinova