The goblins in the Bulgarian folk beliefs

In the ideas of the Bulgarians of the XNUMXth century, a goblin is "an evil spirit that appears as a shadow at night on large buildings." The goblins walk until the roosters sing. Every larger building, mill, bridge, buried property has a goblin. People say of someone, "I found his goblin!", Which means, "I found his weak spot!" The goblin is a spiritual demonic force born as a result of magical practice.

The word "thalamus" in the Bulgarian language comes from the Turkish form "tulsam", which in Western languages ​​is present in the sense of "talisman" - "an enchanted object that protects from disease and misfortune." In Bulgarian folk beliefs, the "goblin" is born with the "thalamus" as it is known among the Muslim population in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Turks believe that this "tulsam" appears to the people in the form of a large Arab, whose service is to protect property or buried property.

In AT Iliev's article from 1875, "Where does magic have its roots in?" It reads: The common people and the children believe that after 40 days the measured person will die and become a goblin. ” With this thread, the carpenters measure the shadow of a passer-by, who dies soon after the construction is completed and turns into a goblin - the guardian of the building. The goblin appears in the image of a rooster, dog or cat. A man who has become a goblin is said to "dragonize" or "vampire." "The bridges were held by the goblins so that they would not fall" - a testimony from the village of Vakarel, Sofia region.

In Northwestern Bulgaria, it is believed that every house, bridge, fountain or mill has its own goblin, which in the "dark age" appears in the image of a dog, "it drowns the man." According to popular belief, a man, preferably a woman, is walled up in the foundations by secretly "measuring" his shadow. Then the man dies. But his soul becomes a goblin and remains in the foundation. At night she shouts, sings or cries, and sometimes disguises herself as a dog, wolf or bear and attacks a person.

This is how one sometimes chooses which person to become a goblin. The chief master carpenter called the magic spell: "Whoever comes to us tomorrow at the earliest, is doomed to be the foundation of this bridge, church, fountain." They usually wall up young girls and boys or newlyweds - they secretly take their shadow. The victim begins to wither, dry up and soon dies. "The goblin keeps the building from falling or collapsing." If the goblin was a woman during his lifetime, he sang or cried at night, and if he was a man, he played the flute or bagpipes.

People know that craftsmen know how to raise souls, so they avoid new buildings until the wall is raised "at least 2-3 meters". Carpenters do not admit that they know how to embed human souls, but confirm that they raised the shadow of a ram or other animal. Then around the wall of a church you can hear bleating, elsewhere the crowing of a rooster, etc. In order to teach a master carpenter to build a human shadow, he must know how to "immerse his soul" and "pollute with his pagan." That means he has to learn some black magic. In the stone bridge of the village of Enitsa, Beloslatinsko, they say that a man was walled up for a goblin. Once a passer-by slept under this bridge, who later fell ill and died. Since then, no one dares to go there, so as not to "fence".

Thalassam also guards the buried property. People in northwestern Bulgaria have long believed that dragons in caves are very rich in gold and silver. "Sometimes the dragon, anticipating his death, buries part of this property and keeps it a goblin." When the buried property belongs to some outlaws, before burying it, they call it: “The money buried here should come out like a dog (cat, goose or other animal); who else came to dig them up to do this and that. ' "This and that" often means a person dying or slaughtering an animal.

There is a special interpreter of such spells, also called "enemy". Mikhail Arnaudov claims: "Many times in such cases murders have been committed, if the enemy sees in his enemy that in order to find the property, a person must be slaughtered over it." In the village of Sofronievo, Vratsa region, a maldzhia (treasurer) killed his own nephew because of an impression, and in the Berkovitsa region another killed his own daughter. The ghost of the buried property stands there to "choke" the thieves. The property can be taken out of the ground only if a sacrifice is slaughtered on it - a dog, a cat or a person, depending on the footprints that are marked on the ashes sprinkled on top.

The goblins in Bulgarian folk mythology are evil spirits, summoned by the path of magic to be of service to people. Despite their role as guardians, goblins do not betray their nature and often harm people, so the fear and horror of these demons is preserved in the people's consciousness.