The custom "Pole, pole" intertwines the Christian and pagan beliefs of Bessarabian Bulgarians

published on 1/1/25 5:50 AM

Photo: Galina Manolova's private archive

Moving to Bessarabia more than two centuries ago, some Bulgarians brought with them part of their rich rituals. In their new homeland, some customs became modified under the influence of local traditions, others disappeared, and still others have been preserved only in the Bulgarian villages there. Such is the case with an interesting New Year's ritual preserved by Bessarabian Bulgarians - "Pole, pole" (meaning "field, field").

"This is an incredibly beautiful custom, which consists in the fact that on the morning of January 1, male children go around the houses and sing a special blessing song, which they accompany with sprinklings of wheat or rye for health and grace," says ethnographer Galina Manolova, born in the Moldovan village of Kairaklia:

In fact, these are children's Christmas tours of the houses, and at first glance the custom looks like a typical borrowing from the northern Slavs: it is observed among Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians.

"But here in particular, I would say that this is a more Bulgarian version of an interesting custom, because we have a blessing, the first part of which is in Bulgarian, and the second – in Russian. Why is it still considered Bulgarian? Because it corresponds to the morality of the Bulgarians in Bessarabia", Galina Manolova explains.

"This song of blessings clearly indicates that God Jesus Christ, whom the Virgin Mary gave birth to, walks among people, since the field can be considered as a society, and each grain – as a separate Christian soul. The other thing that I paid attention to as an ethnographer is that unlike the children performing the survakane custom, who also go around the houses with a blessing in the first hours of the new year and can be both boys and girls, the participants in "Pole, Pole" are only boys. Because the little boy in this case is the one blessing, the little man, the future plowman, and also the man made in the likeness of God."

Survachka - the magic wand of Bulgarians

This blessing clearly shows the strength of the faith of the Bulgarians in Bessarabia and their Christian worldview. It is no coincidence that the first thing they do in the new place is build churches. And it is possible that this custom incredibly rich in composition is adopted because it corresponds to their Orthodox essence.

"When the elderly grandmothers heard the little boy utter this New Year's blessing and saw how the wheat was scattered in the room, in front of the icon, they fell into a spiritual, so to speak, trance, they perceived the blessing as a bright, beautiful word coming from the church", recalls Galina Manolova in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. "On the other hand, the custom is very interesting in that it still reflects the beginning of the secular New Year, but with this custom the Bulgarians show how they perceive the world, made by Jesus Christ, and the new year begins in this wonderful way - sanctified by the word of God."

In the custom "Pole, pole" Christian beliefs are intertwined with pagan ones. Our people believed that the more grain is thrown, the more chickens would hatch during the year and Galina's mother would leave this grain to stay for a while and then used is to feed the hens.

"But sanctified by such a blessing and blessed in front of the icon, according to the ideas of the Bessarabian Bulgarians, the grain acquires miraculous properties. Already as a student, I noticed how my mother gave the children with the survachki less money than the children who came to perform the "Pole, pole" ritual. Only now do I understand that she did it unintentionally, because this custom is something blessed for her. Because everything that is connected with God is truly miraculous for the Bessarabian Bulgarians."

During her research, ethnographer Galina Manolova did not discover the roots of this custom in Bulgaria. "Which doesn't mean they are not there, we just have to find them", Galina is convinced and sends her best wishes to all Bulgarians:

"I wish in these bright holidays more light, more goodness and let positive thinking prevail, because we are here temporarily and everything that happens to us happens for our good!"

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