What can you do to keep your health – physical and mental? What behavioral mechanisms must one follow in the pursuit of health? Answers to these questions are to be found literally at every turn in traditional beliefs and rituals. Fending off illness is above all a fight with human frailties which “open the door to disease”. One of the ways to keep illness at bay was to give up certain foods, actions etc. People usually resorted to zarek when all other methods of traditional medicine had failed. Zarek was thought to be particularly efficacious with nervous and mental disorders which were believed to be caused by evil spirits. And of course, if one was righteous, his guardian angel would be powerful and the battle would be won before it reached the visible world. But if wickedness had won, then people would turn to healers and herbalists who would tell them what to prepare for their rituals. Different extracts and infusions were used made of curative or magic herbs. Some of them were used to spray or immerse the patient. Others were made for drinking. Thus, the power of the water and the wholesome plants would banish the disease or the evil spirit causing it. When the herb cure was completed, there remained one more stage. It “guaranteed” that the ailment had a “one way ticket” into the unknown.

To make sure that the evil spirit had got what he craved for, had had his fill and would never return, the soothsayer would begin an incantation of vows. For this they needed a glass of wine and a ritual loaf. The woman of the house would bake fresh bread. According to prominent Bulgarian ethnographer Dimitar Marinov, the women would decorate the loaf using naprustsi – a device made of iron used in weaving, or bracelets. It should be noted that it was not every woman that was able to make fetching decorations on the bread, so sometimes they would call in someone with a reputation – a relative or a neighbour. The loaf made for the vow ritual had to be baked under a lid, and you had to be very careful because it must not be overdone or be blackened. Once baked, the loaf would be coated in honey, as many other ritual loaves. Wine and honey were placed on a small wooden table next to the fireplace. Now the ritual could begin.

The soothsayer or person performing the ritual would first take the sick person to the front door, taking him by the right hand. There the patient would bow down at the doorstep and would then be taken back to the fireplace. The patient would bow down his head and the medicine woman would sprinkle it with water in which live coals have been extinguished. Then she would lift the table, place it over the patient and says: “This is for you, sweet with honey. Eat your fill, drink your fill and in health, get away from…” here she mentions the name, and goes on: “To your health, she (or he) vows not to eat goat’s meat,” for example. Zareks differed and the patient had to take heed of what was said at the ritual. Sometimes that would mean not washing his hair on a Friday or not working on a Monday, not wearing black clothes, drinking milk or eating carp. No one knew beforehand what he had to refrain from, the soothsayer never said what she was going to prohibit, often she just said the first thing that came into her head. It was believed that this was the only way to make sickness go away and keep it at bay. For mild cases the ban would sometimes be valid for one month, but most often for 40 days. But for more serious problems, the vow would last a lifetime and the slightest breach could prove fatal. That is why people would show understanding for someone who has taken a ritual vow. If someone said they didn’t want a helping of a given dish he would often be told: “Go on, take some, you haven’t taken a vow!” But if he answered: “I can’t, I have been vowed not to,” they would answer back: “Health be with you!”

English version: Milena Daynova