TheAnastenaria (Greek:Αναστενάρια,Bulgarian:Нестинарство,romanized: Nestinarstvo) is a traditional barefootfirewalking ritual withecstatic dance performed in some villages inNorthern Greece and SouthernBulgaria. The communities which celebrate this ritual are descended from refugees who entered Greece from EasternThrace following theBalkan Wars of 1911–12 and thePopulation exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923.[1][2][3]
The Bulgarian and Greek villages perform a unique annual ritual cycle, which begins on May 21 and ends on May 23 every year. The central figures of the tradition areSaint Constantine andSaint Helen, but all the significant days in this cycle coincide with important days in theGreek Orthodox calendar and are related to various Christian saints. The two major events in this cycle are two big festivals, one in January and particularly one in May, dedicated to these two saints. Each of the festivals lasts for three days and involves various processions, music and dancing, and an animal sacrifice. The festival culminates with a firewalking ritual, where the participants, carrying the icons of saints Constantine and Helen,dance ecstatically for hours before entering the fire and walking barefoot over the glowing-red coals, unharmed by the fire.[4]
Each community of the Anastenaria has a special shrine known as thekonaki, where their holyicons are placed, as well as the "signs" of the saints (semadia), votive offerings and red kerchiefs attached to the icons. Here, on the eve of the saints' day, May 20,they gather to dance to the music of the Thracianlyre and drum. After some time, they believe that they may be "seized" by Saint Constantine and enter atrance. On the morning of the saints' day, May 21, they gather at thekonaki and proceed to a well to be blessed withholy water and tosacrifice animals. The rules about the nature of the beasts to be slain are precise, but differ from village to village. In the evening a fire is lit in an open space, and after dancing for some time in thekonaki, the anastenarides go to it carrying their icons. After dancing around it in a circle, individual anastenarides dance over the hot coals as the saint moves them. The ritual is also performed in January, during the festival ofSaint Athanasius, and fire-walking is done indoors.
According to some myths the custom originated in theMiddle Ages when the church of Saint Constantine in their original home inKosti, now inBulgaria, caught fire, and the voices of thesaints calling for help could be heard from inside. The villagers who braved the flames to rescue them were unharmed, being protected by the saints. Other ethnographers, however, have argued that the Anastenaria are vestiges of ancient practices of cults ofDionysus.[5][6]
In Bulgaria, the right to perform the ritual was hereditary and the headnestinar was succeeded only by his or her son or daughter, and only when he or she was too old or ill to continue performing it. The headnestinar's house was sacred, because it housed thestolnina (столнина) – a small chapel where icons of several saints were arranged, as well as asacred drum used specifically for the ritual and believed to cure the drummer if he was ill.[7][8]
In the 20th century the ritual became commercialized and is performed for tourists in the seaside resorts of theBulgarian Black Sea Coast by people who have little to do with the original tradition. The rituals survive in more authentic form in five villages of northern Greece:Ayia Eleni,Langadas,Meliki,Mavrolefki, andKerkini; and in six Bulgarian villages in theStrandzha Mountains:Balgari,Gramatikovo,Slivarovo,Kondolovo,Kosti, andBrodilovo.[1][9][10]
While visiting Bulgaria on July 11th 2024, famous streameriShowSpeed attempted the ritual on a YouTube IRL stream.
In 2009, the ritual was entered in theUNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists and the National Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage "Living Human Treasures - Bulgaria" on the application of the Regional historical museum Burgas.[11]
Nestinari Nunataks onLivingston Island in theSouth Shetland Islands,Antarctica, are named after the Bulgarian folkloric ritual of Nestinari.[12]
