site.btaSeptember 30, 2009: Nestinarstvo Fire-dancing Rite Inscribed on UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Nestinarstvo fire-dancing rite was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during the 4th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, held from September 30 to October 3, 2009, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Nestinarstvo, messages from the past: the Panagyr of Saints Constantine and Helena in the village of Bulgari is the official name of the rite in the intangible UNESCO heritage list.

Nestinarstvo is the second Bulgarian masterpiece after the Bistritsa Babi, archaic polyphonic singing, traditional dances, and ritual practices from the Shoplouk Region, included in 2005 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

This is the report of the BTA English-language service on the ritual from 1999:

Origins of Fire-dancing Ritual Remain Beguiling

Sofia, August 27, 1999 (Daniel Dimitrov of BTA) - Fire-dancing, or nestinarstvo, is one of the oldest and most fascinating Bulgarian folk customs.  The public had the opportunity to see two boys and a girls dancing on glowing embers recently at the opening of the Vitosha international folk festival in the centre of Sofia.

Nestinarstvo was practiced in most villages near Strandja mountain (Southeastern Bulgaria) and Eastern Thrace up to the 1912 and 1913 Balkan Wars, and may originate from a Thracian sun cult. It now survives only in the Strandja village of Bulgari located on the wooded slopes of the mountain, some 20 km away from the town of Tsarevo (Southern Black Sea coast).

Crowds of people from all over the country used to flock to the village in early June for the festival of Sts Constantine and Helena, during which one of the biggest fairs in Strandja was held over the course of three days.  What attracted them to this small village were the dances of the nestinari.

A large fire used to be built on the village square early in the afternoon of the first day and a ring of glowing embers was formed some two metres in diametre and four or five centimetres thick. At dusk the church bell would start ringing. People would leave their houses and crowd around the square trying to find a place near the ring. 

A fire-dancer, usually a woman (nestinarka), accompanied by a group of men and women would come out of the small chapel of St. Constantine, who, according to the legend, is patron and inspiration of this form of fire-dancing.  The procession, led by two drummers and a bagpiper, would head towards the fire and then make three circles around it.  The nestinarka would start to shiver, then tremble, her face red and arms cold, and then jump into the fire with a piercing shout, "Vah!".

She would cross the embers stepping flat on her feet in a trance-like state. She would ocasionally go out of the ring for a moment and then enter it once again. After she had crossed the ring several times, she would grab an icon of St Constantine covered with flowers and coins, which a boy would hold near the fire, and start dancing with it, shouting "Vah!" several more times.

The dance left no traces of burns on her feet. After that a ring dance (horo) would be formed around the dying coals.

Several days before the festival of Sts Constantine and Helena the nestinari would make night processions through the village accompanied by music and carrying icons. The icons would remain in each house for several minutes, as it was believed to bring good health. It was quite often that two neighbouring villages celebrated the festival together.

According to the first man to describe this form of fire dancing, Bulgarian National Revival writer and folklore researcher Petko R.  Slaveikov, some 10 or 15 people used to dance in the fire. The more nestinari there were, the bigger the harvest was believed to be that year. The fire-dancers were mainly women.

A chief nestinarka used to be chosen among the dancers, usually the oldest woman, the one who could endure the heat longest. She was believed to be a sister of the saint and could cure the ill.

According to the legend, the fire-dancers could interpret dreams, find lost objects or animals, foretell the harvest, wars and natural disasters.

The chief nestinarka would choose among the most handsome villagers a vekilin (pitrop), who would be in charge of the holy places in the village and lead the ritual.

A number of travellers, doctors, writers, folklore researchers, psychologists, sociologists and ethnographers have voiced different opinions about the origin of nestinarstvo and its "secrets".

According to Professor Georgieva, the roots of nestinarstvo are probably in an ancient Thracian cult of the sun and its substitute on earth, fire. The other elements in this cosmic model of the world were water and trees.

According to the oldest belief, the fire-dancers are protected by supernatural powers which inspire them and help them remain intact during the dance.

Other researchers explain the phenomenon with the use of protective means: coating the soles with a sort of lard, sulphur, vinegar or asbestos.  But neither of these can make the human body fire resistant.

A number of Bulgarian researchers believed that the secret is in the coarse skin of the nestinari, who used to walk barefoot all their life. This, however, does not explain many cases, and besides, dead cells keep the heat longer and unconscious burns can occur.

Another explanation appeared in mid-century.

In 1946 a group of conscripts were stationed in Strandja and many of them attended the festival in the village of Bulgari. On the first day they were mere spectators, but in the night of the second day two of them entered the fire ring and started dancing barefoot like the nestinari, the only difference being that they were smiling and there was no trace of the nestinari's painful expression on their faces.

A similar thing happened the next year.  The conscripts were dancing on the glowing embers just like the nestinari. First, they were only one or two, but then all the rest followed. No one had burns.

"There is nothing supernatural in fire dancing," they explain. "There is no religious trance, everything can be explained by physical laws.  You must step flat on the embers and not stay more than a second."

However, people who have witnessed this ritual, enchanted by its magic and mysticism, are reluctant to accept this explanation.

DD/NK/BH/