Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

In Bulgarian folklore St. Elijah is master of hail and storms

Photo: pravoslavie.bg

On July 20, Orthodox Christians mark the day of St. Elijah. Bulgarians call this holiday Ilinden and in folklore traditions St. Elijah is seen as a saints who is master of hail, thunder, and lightning.

In folk tales the saint has a chariot of fire and as he rides in it he chases a dragon (“lamya”) that feeds on the wheat in the fields. Perhaps, this notion is connected with the miracle of his departure from the earthly world as it is said that St. Elijah was taken in a chariot of fire and brought alive to heaven.

A beautiful song from the repertoire of Daniel Spasov and Milen Ivanov tells about the supernatural powers of "Old Saint Elijah".


Editor: Albena Bezovska



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Photo: National Museum of Natural History of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Paleontologists find more than 30 animal fossils from the time of the dinosaurs near Trun

What was the animal world like in the region of what is today the town of Trun more than 80 million years ago – that is the question paleontologists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ National Museum of Natural History have been trying to answer...

published on 10/6/24 6:35 AM
Tsar Boris III

Exhibition in Sofia on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Boris III

The National History Museum celebrates the 130th anniversary of the birth of Tsar Boris III with the exhibition "Tsar Boris III. Personality and Statesman" . It will be opened today in the central lobby of the museum. The exhibition will present, in..

published on 10/3/24 6:05 AM

Why a new Pan-Orthodox Council must be convened in Sofia

26 years ago, on 30 September, at the initiative of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC), a Pan-Orthodox Council was convened in Sofia to resolve the schism within the Bulgarian clergy . Then, despite the efforts of Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul to..

published on 9/30/24 7:05 AM