In many ancient mythologies fish is the symbol of woman. It denotes fertility and procreation, water and its power to give birth to and preserve life. Fish is bonded to the Mother Goddess and the lunar deities. In ancient Greek tradition it is an attribute of the goddess of love Aphrodite. Later, in Christian times, it came to be seen as a symbol of Christ and of the early Christians, who were called fishers of men. Fish is also part of Bulgarian tradition – as a species, a specific kind of food and a livelihood, but also as a symbol focusing different ancient mythological notions.

Because it was once difficult to store, fish was considered dangerous to eat as it spoils quickly: The fish said: Grill me quickly to turn my eyes white, or yours will! i.e. if it is not well cooked he who eats fish may get food poisoning. According to tradition, fish is not to be eaten throughout the year but only in the months whose names have an “r” in them – i.e. the cold months of the year (September - April) whereas from May till August fish spoils easily because of the high temperatures. There is a popular saying that has come down to our day: Fish spoils from the head down, a different way of saying that corruption and problems invariably start at the top. But fish is also considered “clean” food – it is the only “rich” food that is allowed during fasting connected with days like Annunciation, Palm Sunday and Nikulden.

There is a proverb connected with fishing that goes: Wet pants eat fish, dry pants – peppers – another way of saying “no pain, no gain”. To describe someone who is rash it is said that The fish is still in the sea, but he has got the frying pan ready. There is a popular simile: to be as silent as a fish, or to describe a simpleton it is said that he gapes like a carp fish or baluk (the Turkish words for fish).

Symbolically fish is connected with water, the depths and the underworld. According to ancient cosmogonic notions, the Earth is supported by two or three fish, by whales or by the horns of an ox, who has stepped on a fish. The bond with the underworld is also a bond with fertility. It is believed that swallowing fish or pieces of fish helps beget a child and as a rule, children conceived with the help of such miraculous methods have exceptional abilities.

But there is another thing that connects fish with the inability to conceive. Songs tell the story of a young bride who had had a curse put on her by her mother to: conceive a child when she hears the fish sing from the Black Sea, the rock sough from the high mountain. When he found this out, her husband decided to remarry and told his brother to take the childless woman to the seashore and drown her. But God took pity on the tears of the poor woman and worked a miracle – the fish started singing and the stone soughing. The bride returned to her husband and was soon blessed with an exceptional boy with a moon on his chest and a bright sun on his forehead.

As a symbol of bounty and happiness, the fish is also part of Christmas time benedictions, addressed to the maiden of the house who is compared to a barbel in the deep, a partridge on the long grass and a peacock in the mansion garden. The barbel is an acknowledged symbol of woman. In popular tradition a pretty maiden is compared to a barbel and her wedding is often seen as fishing. A Christmas song sings of a gold-winged barbel living in the Black Sea; at the request of a young lass fishermen gathered – fishermen with nets – and they threw their nets over the Black Sea and caught a wondrous fish. The song is sung by a girl ripe for marriage and is an invocation for a wedding.

According to traditional belief fish are capable of making a wish come true and not just in the popular tales about the fisherman and the fish of gold. In Assenovgrad, for example there is a church known as the fish church - Holy Mother of God, though officially it is dedicated to the Annunciation. It is said that it was dubbed thus because of its dome, whose slabs look like fish scales. In the church chapel there is a small water spring with fish. Believers say that if you catch a glimpse of the fish in the spring your prayers shall be heard and throw coins into the water for luck. The most famous fish in Bulgarian folklore is, beyond a doubt, the carp, revered in ancient times by the Slavs. According to an ancient belief a carp that has not been seen by a human eye for forty years turns into a dragon – that is why some iconostases have fish instead of dragons depicted at the foot of the crucifix.

According to tradition, the carp is servant to St. Nicholas, so it is given as a votive offering to the saint on Nikulden – December 6. Carp is said to be a sacred fish because inside its head there is a small bone shaped like a cross. The bone is kept and is then sown onto the newborn’s hat as an amulet. Miraculous powers are also ascribed to the scales of the Nikulden carp; they are consecrated so they must not trod upon or be thrown away to an unclean place; if they are carried inside one’s purse they will make its owner wealthy.

Ass. Prof. Vihra Baeva, is a folklore expert at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Institute for Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum

English Milena Daynova