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useless-bulgariafacts · 2 years

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October 26th is Dimìtrovden/Mitrovden (Димитровден), or the Orthodox feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki. (Bulgarian: Свети Димитър Солунски) He is a 3rd-4th century Christian saint and great martyr (великомъченик) from the city of Thessaloniki in Greece, of which he is the patron saint.

Hagiographies refer to St. Demetrius as a young man of a senatorial family, who became proconsul and was tasked with persecuting Christians in the at the time still pagan Roman Empire. However, being himself Christian, he instead protected them, for which the emperor had him jailed. He was later speared to death as punishment for the defeat of the gladiator Lyaeus at the hands of Demetrius' disciple, Nestor. This marked the beginning of his veneration by Christians in the area, which grew in the following centuries, as he was said to guard the city against raiders.

Albeit not one originally, during the Middle Ages St. Demetrius came to be revered as a warrior saint, and iconography portrays him riding on a red horse, running a spear through various enemies — often Lyaeus, but also whoever was locally perceived as an enemy. In Greek icons, this is sometimes the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan, while in Bulgarian ones — the Byzantine emperor Basil II The Bulgarslayer, or later on, a Turk. St. Demetrius is also associated with the founding of the Second Bulgarian Tsardom, specifically the uprising of the brothers Petăr and Asen, which broke out on Oct. 26th, 1185. The St. Demetrius church in Veliko Tărnovo (pictured above) was built in commemoration the event, and served as a coronation site of Asen dynasty tsars, who claimed him as their patron.

Traditionally, Dimitrovden marks the end of the seasonal transition from fall to winter, a period which begins on Oct. 14th with Petkovden. Bulgarian folk mythology casts the saints George and Demetrius in the role of twin brothers, whose respective holidays split the year into its warm and cold halves. The latter, elder of the two, ushers in the cold and darkness, as he rides in on his red horse and the winter's first snowflakes sprinkle down onto the earth from his beard. As St. George's opposite and counterpart, he takes on the qualities of a chthonic deity, and thus has connotations to death and the Beyond — under his patronage the so-called Dimitrovska Zadushnica takes place on the Saturday prior to Dimitrovden, one of several such holidays where food is given out in honor of deceased ancestors. Perhaps this is also why, in addition to St. George, folk imagination places him as a brother to Archangel Michael and nephew to St. Paraskeva/Petka.

Dimitrovden is the true end to the year's agrarian cycle — the harvest now over, it's time to put the farm tools away, make sure the animals have shelter and firewood is stocked up. It's also when farmhands and other labourers' contracts expire and they get rehired for the year ahead, which is why the day is also known as Razpust (Разпуст). As with other big holidays, a community-wide celebratory feast is held, and the customary ritual meal (or kurban) is mutton. The biggest ram is chosen, a pair of gold-painted apples are placed onto its horns and those present bow before it, after which it's slaughtered and cooked, and receives a priest's blessing before being served. Festivities are accompanied by music and horo (group dancing), which again has an intended matchmaking function. Namesakes of the saint celebrate the occasion, too — but they're traditionally served a chicken or rooster dish, according to gender. Other foods for Dimitrovden include corn, seasonal fruit and derived dishes, such as apple pita, pestil (a type of plum dessert), rachel (pumpkin syrup), etc.

Another activity which traditionally ends on Dimitrovden is construction work — a new house is supposed to have been completed by then, and the homeowners celebrate by throwing their own feast with a kurban, and inviting friends and relatives to witness the house being blessed by the master mason and the priest. The feast day has therefore been adopted as a career holiday of builders and masons.

The day's connection to the mysterious and otherworldly has inspired various beliefs and rituals of prognostic or divinatory nature, and anything from the weather and moon phases, to the behaviour of farm animals is observed carefully and used to make future predictions. Characteristic is the custom, known as polazvane (полазване), wherein members of the household make note of the first person to visit them, to physically cross the threshold into their home, and interpret them as a portent of things to come. Also, according to old treasure hunting legends, Dimitrovden is when "the sky opens" and buried gold emits a blue-ish flame just above ground.

Dimitrovden is part of the group of holidays, based around the idea of transition and liminality; between fall and winter, between the world of the living and of the dead. The Christian and pre-Christian symbolism intertwine, the martyr death of the saint mirrors the "death" of nature as the earth is covered in snow and daytime engulfed by darkness. And crucially — for a people whose perception of time follows nature's cycles — the coming of winter brings not only a period of calm and rest, but the promise of spring and renewal.

#Bulgaria #Slavic #Balkan #Eastern Europe #Orthodox #folklore #mythology #customs #Dimitrovden #here you go bulgarian halloween pt.2 #I am again sorry it's several days later but it took a while to write ok

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mariacallous · 6 months

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Looking for a Shabbat dinner centerpiece or a hearty midweek meal? Picture cubes of eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes and potatoes cooked together to create that special harmony only veggies that grew together in the sun achieve. You’re thinking of ratatouille, right? But what I have in mind is a heartier dish from Romania and Bulgaria called ghiveci or guvech.

Romanian ghiveci and Bulgarian guvech are indeed very similar to the famous ratatouille, but being peasant’s food, they’re more rustic and substantial. The veggies for guvech are cut into large, uneven chunks, and can be cooked all together at once, while for ratatouille, each component is fried separately before they are combined. This makes guvech preparation much easier, and allows for creative improvisations; you can easily add any vegetables in season. Besides the mandatory eggplant, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, green beans or okra are common. Guvech is seasoned very simply with salt, black pepper and occasionally paprika, to let the produce shine. The Bulgarian version is cooked with fatty meat, while most Romanian versions are vegan.

“In Bulgaria, guvech used to be cooked in a clay pot called gyuveche,” Etti Ben Yosef, a Bulgarian Jew who lives in Israel, told me. “The stew was cooked in the oven for many hours at low temperature.”

But these days, when Ben Yosef makes guvech for Shabbat dinner, she uses a pressure cooker to precook the beef short ribs before adding them to the vegetables. Then, she cooks the entire stew on the stove for a long time, putting it in the oven for the final hour to give it a nice crust. She feels lucky to share the recipe with her adult children. “I keep the tradition so the kids will remember,” she said.

Guvech’s origins can be traced to the Ottoman Empire that ruled the Balkan region for hundreds of years. The original Turkish dish, called güveç, is cooked in a wide, clay dish by the same name. It’s very similar to the Bulgarian guvech and includes chicken, lamb or beef. There are many other variations of the dish throughout the Balkans. Bosnian ��uveč or djuvec is the name of a clay pot as well as a veggie casserole that’s cooked with rice; Greek giouvetsi is also cooked with rice. In Romania, the eggplant-tomato version is considered summer ghiveci, while winter ghiveci is prepared with carrots, cabbage, cauliflower and mushrooms.

Bulgarian Sephardi Jews and Romanian Ashkenazi Jews brought guvech to Israel (where it’s pronounced “ghe-vech”) and made the dish widely popular. No wonder, given that eggplant and tomatoes are so beloved in Israel and are of such high quality. Early Israeli versions can be found in Molly Bar David’s “Folkloric Cookbook” from 1964. The first version includes 14 different vegetables (including celery root and cauliflower) and meat. The second version is for Romanian ghiveci that’s baked with a whole fish on top.

The vegetarian Romanian version is probably most common in Israel nowadays. And although it is traditionally served over rice, I like to serve it on another Romanian staple, mamaliga. It’s the definition of comfort food.

This recipe is the Bulgarian version of guvech that includes meat. You can make the recipe vegetarian by simply omitting the meat. The rest of the ingredients and instructions stay the same.

Notes:

It is recommended, and easy, to add any seasonal vegetables to the basic guvech. Consider adding: 1 lb butternut squash or sweet potato, cut into ½-inch dice; ½ lb whole okra, stems removed; or ½ lb green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces.

You can cook the meat, if using, up to two days in advance. Store the cooked meat in the fridge with the cooking liquid. Before using, remove from the fridge and discard the fat on the top of the pot (the fat will be solid and white in color).

Guvech keeps in the fridge for up to four days.

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lactodebillus-bulgaricus · 8 months

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HWS Bulgaria

I'm redoing the pool because I forgot to set the poll duration to 1 week.

Who is he, when was he born, who is he related to? What is y'all's opinion? (I'm curious, I'd be happy if you wrote why you chose the option you chose)

(shout-out to @jalshristovski & @athenov & @chido3000 who replied on my first post on this topic, I like your ideas and I'm happy you shared them)

Idea No.1: He's the son of Old Great Bulgaria (OGB for short) and the brother of Volga Bulgaria (VB for short) who came to the Balkans. He was born in the 7th century and represented Asparukh's Bulgars who were distinct from the Slavs, once the Bulgars were assimilated by the Slavs and the Bulgar name was given to the mixture, he began representing the Slavic Bulgarians. He used to believe in the pagan Bulgar religion, then he became an Orthodox Christian.

(Is he the biological son of OGB, or did he pop out of nothing in 681, bearing strong resemblance to OGB? Is he his son in the biological, human way, or is he his son in the weird Hetalia way?)

Idea No.2: He was born from the mixing of Slavs and Bulgars in the 9th century, his mom is a Slavic tribe and his dad represented Asparukh's Bulgars (or vice-versa), he's the grandson of OGB and the nephew of VB.

Idea No.3: He's a Slav, he has been a Balkan Slav all along, he is the descendant of some Slavic tribe. He was adopted by the avatar who represented Asparukh's Bulgars and inherited the name Bulgaria from her or him, then his adoptive mother or father died in the 9th century when the Bulgars got assimilated. He might be related to some of the Balkan Slavs.

Idea No.4: He appeared out of nothing once the Bulgars got assimilated by the Slavs and he doesn't have any biological parents. He looks Balkan and is unrelated to the other Balkan Slavs or, overall, Balkan countries, at least not in a biological, human-like way. He may be related to Thracian tribes, to the Odryssian kingdom, or to other Slavic countries (in the weird, non-human Hetalia way) as circa half of modern-day Bulgarans' genes is local, Balkan/Mediterranean and circa half is Slavic/East European.

There's this idea that maybe he was born in 1878 (as he isn't shown in Hetalia before that), with the Second Bulgarian Empire as his father and the First Bulgarian Empire as his grandfather, but that doesn't make any sense, the idea of Bulgaria, Bulgarianness and the Bulgarian ethnicity have existed continuously, yes, the Bulgarian state was nonexistent for almost half of our 1300 years of history (500 years under the Ottomans and almost 200 years under the Byzantines) but Poland didn't die when he was partitioned, Finland didn't die when he was under Russian rule, so it's nonsensical to make the First and Second Bulgarian Empire different characters who have died.

(I go with Idea No.1 in my crackfic because the dynamic of Bulgar, Onoghur, Volga and Danube Bulgaria is funny to me, but if I ever wrote a serious work, I could use a different idea)

(Feel free to suggest other ideas.)

#hetalia #hws bulgaria #aph bulgaria #hetalia bulgaria

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zvetenze · 10 months

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Stepped dwellings from across bend in the Yantra River

Veliko Tărnovo, Bulgaria

The deep chasm of the meandering Yantra River creates a dramatic site for this historic central Bulgarian city, strategically located on the north-south route through the Balkan Mountain range. The old core covers three hills around the river, and buildings cling to the steep slopes. Fortified capital of Bulgaria's medieval kingdom and of the Second Bulgarian Empire, also a key trading center, the city had diverse residents and retains numerous historic structures. Old houses mix with newer structures above the river chasm. (photo 2000)

#Bulgaria #architecture #house

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roran01 · 3 months

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what do you imagine ro & bul's first ever encounter to have been like?

Hm, maybe during the second Bulgarian empire. Ro's status back then wouldn't have been very different from a regular citizen/peasant, at best I think he represented the consciousness of his future state that didn't form yet, which kept him immortal till it did (countries can exist many centuries before forming themselves, e.g: Italy being present during Rome's times).

Bulgaria had a higher status since he was already a formed medieval state, maybe royalty or nobility. Romania was a young teen with maybe a 4 year (human) age gap compared to Bul. As for how they meet, Bulgaria either caught glimpse of a child who suspiciously ages slower compared to other kids and ordered for him to stay at his castle or Romania/Wallachia did something stupid enough to get him in trouble with his majesty (I like the latter) and as a punishment he had to be Bul's servant or supervisor and report to the king (or worse, both). Ro likely shrugged himself off as just another personified territory of the empire in hopes to not get killed(?) during all of this (apparently those exist too).

I like to think they had a rocky start in their relationship, with Ro trying to find ways to leave the castle while Bul took joy in pestering him most of the times and Ro reciprocated that in his ways but they warm up to each other later on.

#until Ottoman knocked on their door #hetalia #hws #aph #aph romania #hws romania #aph bulgaria #hws bulgaria #aph robul

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athenov · 6 months

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Hi!!! I'm fairly new here so I'm not sure if this has been discussed but I'd love to see your take on the relationship between BulRo during Bul's empires. Do you have headcanons for it?

anon I'm SO SORRY for this being late, life's been crazy lately

I do, I do! I haven't discussed it before though. But here is a short list, trying to potentially stave off spoilers for Rose-Hearted.

Please take in consideration that I am not a historian and my headcannons should be taken as what they are: Mere headcannons, not actual commentary on medieval history and entity dynamics.

[Also bear in mind that in my verse Romania is a woman. It's my nationverse and I get to pick my women]

● In the First Bulgarian Empire, Dimitar didn't interact a lot with Antonia [Romania]. Romanians weren't mentioned a lot in the First Empire, and there's little information available on the inter-relations of Bulgarians and Romanians. I imagine that Antonia, unhappy with her situation, would draw herself away and do her own things.

•I think that Dimitar would try to approach her though! Get to know her a bit better. He'd often bring her little gifts that he made himself — flowers from his garden, woodcarvings of small animals (My headcannon is that Dimitar enjoys wood-carving) she likes. Antonia is always polite with him, but isn't exactly sure if she trusts Dimitar fully.

•As Dimitar becomes stronger and more confident in his abilities, he also becomes more confident in communicating with others and isn't as shy or timid with Antonia. He has accepted that Antonia has her doubts of him, but he'd try to befriend her regardless.

•Unintentionally, he rubs off on her and she grows more confident as time passes. She discovers her own passions and hobbies — she develops an interest in the occult, magic and folklore, which leads her into hours of research.

•Dimitar bonds with Antonia over a shared interest in folklore; he tells her stories of the Bulgars and Slavs, and she records them. Antonia, in return, tells stories of her mother, Dacia's accomplishments and adventures, as well as Roman mythology.

•In the end, during the First Empire they don't exactly interact a lot, but when they do, they're amicable. Antonia bonds with Dimitar overtime, but still keeps a fair amount of distance.

•When the First Bulgarian Empire was conquered by the Byzantine Empire and turned into a Theme (essentially a province), Dimitar, as the representative, was captured and taken to the Byzantine court. Antonia, having fallen under the Byzantine sphere of influence, stayed behind, but had to stay subservient to the Empire, as many other nations. During that time, she continued her research on folklore while also sending letters to Dimitar, detailing her daily life and expressing disdain for "that arrogant man-child with the purple cloak".

>It was also at that time where Antonia and Miroslav (Serbia) actually befriended each other, due to being at similar situations.

•Like I said, she'd send Dimitar letters. LOTS of them. She'd also include drawings she made, of various things: Mostly scenery, but also portraits. She found herself missing Dimitar.

•The Second Bulgarian Empire was marked by more interactions between Bulgarians and Romanians (known as Wallachians or Vlachs then). Indeed, the revolution against the Byzantine Empire that resulted in the creation of the SBE was started by three Romanians (Asan, Kaloyan and Peter).

•After Dimitar returned from captivity, he and Antonia grew closer. Antonia became more assertive when it involved political matters and she often advised Dimitar. The SBE soon became the dominant entity in the Balkans, defeating the Romans multiple times.

•It was then that Antonia realized she had feelings for Dimitar, but soon pushed them away in order to focus on her own life. Mainly, getting her own state and no longer relying on anyone else for her people's existence and well-being.

•The Mongol Invasions ended Cuman influence and weakened Hungary, which gave Antonia an opportunity to call for unification and the creation of an independent state. Even when she left Dimitar's side, she never stopped sending him letters offering advice and generally talking.

•Dimitar kept all her letters. Even through Ottoman times, when he tended to his garden, he'd keep the most beautiful flowers and name them after her. Yes I headcannon him as sappy, crucify me.

#historical hetalia #hws bulgaria #hws romania #hetalia #balkantalia #hetalia headcanons #also bi4bi bulro canon

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lietpolski · 8 months

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curious but do you have any historical serbia/bulgaria headcanons?

oh anon. do i. i'm historical serbul's number one lover it's SOOO canon to me!!!! a while ago i wrote a friend a break-down of their relationship's timeline <3 here's the "short" edited version of that:

to me, bul is just a biiit older & serbia has been around give or take for as long as he's been alive. and that's a big reason why bul tolerates him in modern day HAHA like bul is a sentimental guy who's lost a lot of people, so he clings to the ones he's known forever and is more forgiving of their flaws

speaking of flaws!! serbia was such an annoyance to bul for the longest time that little fucker <3 he kept getting into fights with bulgaria, winning some but getting his ass kicked a lot, just to do it again. at some point he was under (tentative) bulgarian control, i like to imagine back then he spent the entire time being spiteful and trying to make bul's life hell <3

after that serbia was taken by the byzantines which... extra incentive for bulgaria to want to kick byzantium's ass even more than he already did?? give him HIS grumpy nation boy back!!! well ig he got him back because they both ended up under byzantium after a while LMAO. soon after they had their peak at the same time. the strong serbian kingdom & the second bulgarian empire started (and ended) at about the same time! so i like to think of them being like,, oh, this nation next to me is growing stronger, he's a formidable enemy and a threat but like that's kind of hot !!! serbia was one of the 2 things keeping bulgaria from being able to get more territories to the west which pissed him off too idk i just love serbia never NOT being a thorn on this guy's side :,) u get made bulgarian once and in retaliation u annoy that man forever it's very serbiacore!

then u get to ottoman times where,, ok so u and your ex-enemy are stuck together under this guy's rule who you both hate. you already had sexual tension between you for a WHILE, things are bad & scary and you're worried you're gonna die like byzantium did, of course you're gonna find solace in each other!! i think they were together (in a very on-and-off not-putting-a-name-to-it way) for a while but they probably broke it off for good after some kind of big argument, maybe about bul's hesitation to fight for his independence (and after that, bul started dating romania)

the serbobulgarian war really messed up their relationship and trust they'd built over the years. after it, they only started being friendly-ish again when they fought side by side in the first balkan war, but i think that serbia declaring war on bul (to stop him from unifying and gaining power) after centuries of being together is one of bul's most painful memories to this day. the relationship turned sour again after the second balkan war, and then ww1, and ww2, and... so forth, until they started hanging out (& hooking up <3) again during communist times. and there u have it !!

#if you'd like more details about any specific period feel free to ask!#also disclaimer: my serbian history knowledge is decent but not amazing so im not guaranteeing this is all 100% correct #ask #yugotalia

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dekulakization · 7 months

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#countryhumans #countryhumans byzantine empire #countryhumans byzantium #countryhumans bulgaria #countryhumans second bulgarian empire #medieval countryhumans #Basil II the bulgaro slayer #art #our art #za preradu

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estbela · 4 months

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anyway i want to say that my sudden interest in Bulagria(and RoBul) is unwilling. I didnt like Bulgaria and i didnt wnat to like him 😭😭😭😭😭 I just started thinking about him a little bcs of Romania and before i knew it he just became one of my faves. I dont want him living rent free in my brain but here we are

#Just talking recreationally #And now I do like RoBul!#I guess. Mostly if Serbia is also involved so it becomes SerbRoBul #SerbRo is still my main ship for Romania #But if I ever do write the story i wanna write involving them I think Ill make SerbRoBul endgame. Idk #Actually I do like RoBul. But like. Only if they are tragic #They can make eachoter better. But they can also make eachoter WORSE #Also they probably met during the first bulgarian empire.#I probs said this before but. Bul developed a crush on Ro soon after meeting him.#The crush never went away. It turned into love and affection and devotion for Ro #Cause i feel like hes the guy that once he falls in love with someone its hard for him to like. Move on #So yeah. Hes so. Besotted i think is the word.#Miserably besotted. He probably writes poems about romance too. And the pain that follows love.#Hes so. Reminds me of the romantic academia aesthetic.#Sorry for rambling in the tags. It will happen again #I feel like he wanted to marry Ro since they were children. Probably even promised him that they would.#And Ro at the time said yes. But then the fall of the second empire happened. And when they finally were sorta able to marry #They werent allowed to. And Romania didnt want to anymore. Which was probably what hurt Bul the most

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whencyclopedia · 1 year

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Bulgarian Empire under Khan Krum the Fearsome, 803-814

A map illustrating the reign of Krum the Fearsome (Bulgarian: Крум Страшни), a pagan khan of Bulgaria from about 800 until his death in 814. During his time on the throne, Krum embarked on an aggressive campaign of territorial expansion, resulting in medieval Bulgaria doubling in size and spreading from the Dnieper to Middle Danube and from the Tatra Mountains to Adrianople. Following Charlemagne's defeat of the Avar Khaganate in 803, the Bulgarians took on the Avars themselves and, in 805, extended their territory to the borders of the Frankish Empire. In 811, they defeated an invading Byzantine force, killed Emperor Nicephorus I, and opened the way for a southward expansion. Krum besieged Constantinople in 813, plundering the surrounding countryside, but died (supposedly of cerebral hemorrhage) during a second siege of the Byzantine capital the following year.

#Byzantium #ByzantineEmpire #Avars

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blueiskewl · 1 year

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Late Roman Coin Discovered in Bulgaria

A Late Roman coin was discovered at the fortress Kale Shirokovo in Ruse, Deyan Dragoev, curator in the Archaeology department at the Ruse Regional Historical Museum told BTA.

The coin was from the period of Roman emperor Constans II. It was minted in 651 AD and is made of bronze. It is one of the latest ancient coins discovered in monern Northern Bulgaria during archaeological research, explained Dragoev.

He will present the results of the archaeological survey of Kale Shirokovo conducted last year at the Ruse EcoMuseum on Thursday evening. The Late Roman and Medieval fortress is located on a naturally protected rock between the rivers of Baniski and Cherni Lom.

Dragoev said that with targeted funding from the Ministry of Culture and the Dve Mogili Municipality, and with the cooperation of Mayor Bozhidar Borisov, a section of the main fortress wall with its adjacent tower number two and the auxiliary wall of the Late Roman fortification were studied.

"The uncovered walls have an impressive size and construction technique. They were built from large, up to two metre long stone blocks, on which archaeologists found various signs placed by the ancient master stonemasons. The documented width of the fortress wall and towers is between 3.50 and 4.80 metres, which makes it the widest currently known fortress wall in today's Bulgarian lands," explained the archaeologist.

Dragoev noted that thanks to its powerful fortification system, the fortress, built in the middle of the 5th century, managed to survive the Avaro-Slav invasions of the end of the 6th century, becoming one of the three attested fortresses in the valley of the Ruse Lom River with records leading up to the first half of the VII century.

Last year, a team of archaeologists managed to study a part of a medieval dwelling from the time of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

During the medieval era, the fortified territory was expanded.

"Karel Skorpil suggested that in the ruins of Kale Shirokovo, one should look for the city of Agranzinos, mentioned in the 12th century by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi. Other scientists identify the fortress with the medieval Bulgarian city of Krastovets," explained the archaeologist.

#Late Roman Coin Discovered in Bulgaria #Kale Shirokovo Fortress #Roman emperor Constans II #bronze #bronze coin #collectable coin #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #roman history #roman emire #byzantine empire #byzantine emperor

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dailyhistoryposts · 1 year

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World Literature Series: Pod Igoto

TITLE: Pod Igoto (Under the Yoke: A Romance of Bulgarian Liberty)

AUTHOR: Ivan Vavoz

DATE: 1888

COUNTRY, REGION, OR PEOPLE: Bulgaria

TYPE: novel

BACKGROUND: Called the Patriarch of Bulgarian Literature, Ivan Vazov was born in Bulgaria when it was still part of the Ottoman Empire. As a boy and young man, he struggled to find his place, until he moved to Brăila, Romania and lived with exiled Bulgarian revolutions like Hristo Botev.

In 1874, Vazov joined the struggle for the Liberation of Bulgaria, including the April Uprising, sometimes called the Bulgarian atrocities--the brutal suppression of revolutionaries by the Ottomans led to an international outcry. This eventually led to the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state. It was brought about by Russia’s victory in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 and the resulting Treaty of San Stefano.

Vazov worked as the Education and People Enlightenment Minister in Post-Liberation Bulgaria and dedicated much of his time to writing. In addition to Pod Igoto, Vazov wrote other novels, several plays, an epic poem, and the first science fiction stories and fantasy poems in Bulgarian.

SYNOPSIS: The people of the town of Byala Cherkva are calm and not causing a fuss--because they are preparing for an uprising in secret. The story follows Ivan Kralich, a recently escaped prisoner returning to Byala Cherkva and getting involved in the proceedings, as he assumes the name Boycho Ognyanov.

Through Ognyanov’s eyes, we learn about the town, the oppression the people are facing, and the personal motivations of his friends and enemies. The story deals with the real-life event of the April Uprising of 1876, and the bloody aftermath of its failure.

THEMES: Power, revolution, nationhood

Compare this book to the Les Misérables (1862) by French author Victor Hugo. Also an historical novel from the second half of the 19th century, it likewise deals with an escaped prisoner and a failed rebellion, including political ideals, personal motivations, and the conception of a country’s history and statehood. Pod Igoto stays considerably more on topic than Les Misérables.

Main post for the World Literature series

#history #bookblr #litblr #bulgaria #ivan vazov #les mis #victor hugo #revolution #revolt #rebellion #tw violence

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ryttu3k · 1 year

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Me: "Oh boy, a half-hour lore video on my most favourite blorbo! :D"

Youtuber: "Yeah I don't like them much."

Me: *DEEP BREATH -*

Anyway I wrote nearly a thousand words lmao. Not even as a disagreement, just an attempt to explain Why They're Like That! Reposting my comment below the cut for posterity!

"My very problematic favourite! I can understand why they may turn you off as a character, but I feel a good-sized part of their… messed-up-ness is due to the fact that they're centuries of trauma stacked in a trenchcoat.

Goratrix spending most of Myca's formative years trying to kill them? Traumatic. Being Embraced by Symeon, which, in mages, kills their Avatar, part of their SOUL? Traumatic. Being brought back to Constantinople? Traumatic on at least two levels - first, they're a native Carpathian in Constantinople, being constantly looked down upon just because of where they're born, and second, they're in the Byzantine Empire, but are most likely originally from the Bulgarian Empire. Who were sworn enemies to the Byzantine Empire, and who, over the next several years after Myca's Embrace, were systematically defeated.

And that's just in their earliest years! Then, there's 1204 and 1234. There's the intense betrayal of your own sire drugging and nonconsensually fleshcrafting you, and then being literally brainwashed into being another person altogether, and then being given to an actually insane methuselah as a plaything. The fact that Myca reacted SO strongly with terror and panic when they started remembering those dreams, and the fact that Michael knew exactly who they were while Myca themself didn't know, and the fact that they literally could not say no, indicates that, no, it wasn't 'Myca was Michael's lover', it was straight-out… that word you had to keep cutting out. Symeon buries those memories down. Okay cool great. They escape Constantinople. Good, good. They meet Ilias. They get to spend a few reasonably content decades playing with politics and being in a happy, supportive, loving relationship.

And then the torpid and disguised Dracon is dumped on them. And then they start having horrifying, impossible dreams, both of Michael and of horrifying violation by their own sire. And then they remember the events causing those dreams in full, while at the SAME TIME, Ilias is possessed by the Eldest, who uses his body to commit the worst kind of violation on Myca, leading to Ilias' death, or at least the death of his body (and on top of that, the novel pretty heavily implies that they had a mutual blood bond, so they FELT Ilias die). And that's the point that Myca changes from 'calm, polite, rather manipulative scholar and diplomat who genuinely uses Auspex more than they use Vicissitude' to, well, yeah. So what happened?

The Dracon happened. The Dracon was literally fused to them on a soul level. BJD says that they're 'freed from the maniacally bitter and self-destructive metastases' of their great-grandsire, and that pretty explicitly confirms that the Dracon had been influencing them all along. Myca was cool and analytical. The Dracon… had a temper (as Triglav found out!) and was fairly emotionally unstable, as well. That's a pretty potent combination to make someone who's very very good at analysing the best way to hurt people. On top of that, there's also Michael's 'infection', which may well have triggered when they remembered what Michael did to them in full - they've spent literal centuries under the influence of one methuselah literally fused to their soul, and another methuselah (who happens to have Presence 9 and Dominate 7) whose last words to them were to carry out his Dream. How do you even resist that?

So yeah, deeply messed up. But they have pretty decent reason to be so, being under the direct influence of two deeply messed-up methuselah, as well as all the 'regular' traumas of isolation, manipulation and betrayal by someone they loved and trusted, and the death of the love of their unlife. And that's why I love the story Dreams & Nightmares from BJD so much - it gives them another chance. A chance to actually be themself, for the first time in nearly eight hundred years, someone they haven't been since that night in the Oriol Room in 1234. Myranda Kalis/Sarro, who wrote the Dark Ages Tzimisce novel and that BJD chapter, is absolutely the best writer for Sascha, since she sees them as a PERSON who happens to have undergone unimaginable trauma, and not just a plot device for Ooh Scary stuff.

There's very much three versions of Myca/Sascha, really (four if you include their mortal years), and this is supported by the novel's epilogue, which has Dracon!Myca quite explicitly confirm to Velya that, no, they're not the same person now. There's Myca, originally from Romania, then Constantinople, then back to Romania. Kind of manipulative but nothing too outside the realm of believability for a 200-year-old Cainite. There's the Myca/Sascha who was infected by the Dracon, who committed so many atrocities (and who, let's face it, had the distinct downside of mostly being written during the WoD's most edgelordy phase. Fetus scene, I am looking at you!). And there's the Sascha that's left after the Dracon was torn away from them, who's now an entirely new person still trying to work out who the hell they are. And that's someone who we just haven't seen that much of yet, but who should, by all rights, be very different to the Sascha we've met before.

Everything we know about Sascha in the past almost isn't relevant any more. They are, quite simply, a new person now.

On a much more minor note: as far as we know, Vykos is pronounced 'vi-KOSH', and Myca as 'MEE-ka'. And that description in the wiki about how their skintone was retconned to fit their Hungarian origin is flat-out wrong, they're Romanian. The Magyars/Hungarians were actually actively invading the Carpathians at the time, and the Clan Novel Saga literally has them using ancient Romanian as their native tongue (with that scene written by Lucien Soulban, who also wrote Constantinople by Night and thus is one of Sascha's creators).

Anyway. Very long comment, haha. Like I said, they're my favourite."

...this is the second time I've answered with many hundreds of words of rambling on a question about Sascha oh dear XD;; (First time was here. I'll actually copypaste that too -)

"There are a lot of suggestions saying that they learned it in Constantinople, or from their Koldun lover, Ilias, but the timelines unfortunately don't really match up there - and Sascha explicitly knows Thaumaturgy, not Koldunic sorcery. This was definitely something they learned while in the Sabbat, most likely from the Tremere antitribu, and probably almost entirely as a 'fuck you' to Goratrix.

Pre-Embrace, they were a Mage of House Tremere, pre-Ritual of Usurpation. They were basically a prodigy, and Goratrix hated them, betraying their location to the Tzimisce in the hope that they'd kill Myca (their original name) for him, with a hell of a lot of bad blood between the Tremere Mages and the local Carpathian Tzimisce. Instead, Goratrix accidentally contacted Tzimisce in a war party from Constantinople, who, well, hated the Carpathian Tzimisce as much as the Tremere did, and Symeon took note of this Carpathian Mage and decided to Embrace them largely out of spite.

Myca was furious and traumatised, both because being Embraced as a Mage is really messed up (it kills their Avatar, which is sort of like a second self, and blocks them off from using True Magick entirely), and because they had effectively been captured by the enemy, both in a Cainite sense (with the tensions between the Carpathian and Constantinople Tzimisce) and in a mortal sense (Romania was part of the Bulgarian Empire at the time, and they were at war with the Byzantine Empire; a few years after Myca's Embrace, the Byzantine Empire would end up destroying the Bulgarian Empire, and all they could do would be watching helplessly from Constantinople as their home was destroyed).

So, Myca as a fledgling in Constantinople. They've undergone a deeply traumatic Embrace as a Mage, they've been captured by the enemy, they've watched their home destroyed from afar. And twenty years later, the Tremere, led in a ritual by Goratrix, become Cainites themselves, and start rebuilding the magic that had been stolen from Myca as a new discipline called Thaumaturgy.

So this sets up a new ambition in Myca - learn Thaumaturgy at all costs, and beat Goratrix at his own game.

This ambition is set up early, in Constantinople by Night (set around 1202), with Myca wanting to learn Thaumaturgy from Theresa Kymena (a Tremere defector). Theresa has her own stuff going on with the Salubri Achmet, so that... never really eventuates. By Transylvania Chronicles I, set in 1314, that ambition is still there: "Myca would dearly love to learn the Thaumaturgy Discipline, hoping someday to best Goratrix at the Tremere's own game." This, unfortunately, doesn't eventuate for a while - we get a full character sheet in Transylvania Chronicles II, set 1493, where their discipline spread does not include Thaumaturgy (it has, for reference, Animalism 2, Auspex 3, Celerity 2, Dominate 3, Presence 2, and Vicissitude 3).

The next character sheet we have is from Giovanni Chronicles III, set in 1882. And, by then, they have learned Thaumaturgy! Their disciplines are: Animalism 5, Auspex 5, Dominate 4, Fortitude 2, Potence 3, Thaumaturgy 4, Vicissitude 6. What happened to Celerity and Presence? We just don't know. So at some point between 1493 and 1882, they've started learning Thaumaturgy, with the most accessible source being the Tremere antitribu. When you're an infamous and well-respected Priscus in the Sabbat, I guess you can just go, "Hey, you, teach me your secrets"!

By modern nights (in Children of the Night, published 1999), their disciplines are listed as Animalism 4, Auspex 4, Celerity 2, Dominate 5, Fortitude 3, Presence 4, Thaumaturgy 5, Vicissitude 7. There is some retconning involved there (it drops Potence and restores Celerity and Presence), but does keep Thaumaturgy, and, more specifically, even includes the Paths that they know - Path of Blood 5, Lure of Flames 5, and Movement of the Mind 2.

So, tl;dr - they're over a thousand years old, which is a long time to learn disciplines. They have the means (Tremere antitribu within the Sabbat) and the motivation - their background has them wanting to learn Thaumaturgy specifically, due to their past as a Mage and their rivalry with Goratrix. They manage to achieve this some time between 1493 and 1882, and now they can make people's blood boil from within and cause giant magical fires."

#i am very good at tl;dr #vampire the masquerade #mx meat crimes

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