Washing Rituals from Bulgaria: Insights into the use of water and herbs in traditional healing practices in the Balkans

In Washing Rituals from Bulgaria Georgi Mishev, PhD explores the power of water and magical plants in traditional washing rituals still used in the Balkans today. In Bulgaria, these rituals combine water from powerful natural sources with the magical properties of herbs - and other objects. Practitioners utilize these rituals to treat 'known' and 'unknown' diseases for their clients. For example, traditional healers use washing rituals to treat fever, infertility, epilepsy and childhood illnesses, as well as to manage fear, calm children, break magic and avert the evil eye. Additionally, problems attributed to the zmey and samodivas, local nature spirits once revered in the region and remembered today in folklore and song, are also treated with washing rituals. Inspired by stories his grandmother told him as a child of these rituals Mishev set about investigating these fascinating rituals in Bulgaria today. In this booklet he presents personal observations, transcripts of interviews with traditional healers and magicians, as well as related ethnographical records. Georgi Mishev, PhD is a Bulgarian author and researcher of ancient culture and religion of the Mediterranean world, with a focus on magic practices, rituals and ancient relics in the folklore of the Balkan people. He has a bachelor's degree in Russian and German, and a master's degree in Preservation of the cultural-historical heritage in the Republic of Bulgaria (master's thesis on the subject Thracian material and immaterial cultural-historical heritage in the region of Thracian cult centre Starosel) and doctoral degree in the field of cultural-historical heritage (PhD thesis on the subject Bulgarian traditional culture as an information resource about the magica in ancient Southeastern Europe).