Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania in the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south and the Black Sea to the east. The capital is Sofia.
One of the earliest societies in modern-day Bulgaria dates back to 6,500BC. It has been a battleground for ancient Thracians, Persians, Celts and Macedonians before the Roman Empire conquered the region. The First Bulgarian Empire was established in AD 681.
In 1946 Bulgaria came under the Soviet-led Eastern Bloc, and was ruled by a Communist Party until 1989 when it became a democracy. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and NATO. It is categorised as a developing country with an upper-middle-income economy. Widespread corruption is a major socioeconomic issue, and the country's population has shrunk each year from the last 1980s.
Language
Bulgarians speak Bulgarian, which is written in Cyrillic script. It is native for 85% of the population, and belongs to the Slavic group of languages. It has a number of grammatical peculiarities shared with its closest relative, Macedonian, which sets it apart from other Slavic languages. The other major languages spoken in Bulgaria are Turkish (9.1%) and Romani (4.2%).
Magical Culture
An essential element of Bulgarian folklore is fire, used to banish evil spirits and illnesses. Many of these are personified as witches, whereas other creatures like Zmey and Veela are either benevolent guardians or ambivalent tricksters. Some rituals against evil spirits have survived in Muggle culture. In Southern Bulgaria, muggles still take part in Anastenaria - barefoot fire-walking with dance in May.
Magical culture has many superstitions, warding off illnesses and curses caused by the evil eye. Herbology, healing with herbs and potions are very important. Bulgaria has a rich variety of medicinal herbs and plants.
At Eniovden (midsummer), witches collect herbs because they are most potent on this day. They each collect seventy-seven and a half herbs, to represent the number of illnesses which exist. The half-herb is to represent unknown ailments. These herbs are used to create a giant wreath that younger witches pass through. This protects them from being captured by a zmey. On the day they also perform magical rites and sacred rituals for people, livestock and fields.
Older healers are called znahar. Old muggle women who consider themselves znahar do not wish to be called a witch, because to muggles, witches are veshtitsa, spiteful people who practice the dark arts and wish to cause death, sickness and discord rather than wellbeing. As such, traditional muggle communities fear veshtitsa - witches, but respect their znahar. Some znahar are also considered clairvoyant. More can be found here.
Education
Bulgarian wixes have been known to attend Durmstrang. Bulgarian witch, Nerida Vulchanova founded it in the middle ages. Famous Quidditch player Viktor Krum attended.
Ministry of Magic
Bulgaria has a Ministry for Magic. In 1994, Oblansk was the Minister. He attended the 1994 Quidditch World Cup and wore gold-trimmed, black velvet robes.
Quidditch
Bulgaria has a national Quidditch team, and a National Quidditch Stadium. (In 2014, Bulgaria win the Quidditch World Cup against Brazil.)
The Vratsa Vultures are a popular Quidditch team. They are known as the pioneers of the long goal (scoring from outside the scoring area), and have won the European Cup seven times.
Creatures
Veela (known as Samodivi) are native to Bulgaria. Merpeople (Rusalki), hippogriffs, goblins, trolls, graphorns, dugabogs, nogtails, mackled malaclaws and hags have also been sighted here.
At Absit Omen
Draconis Bythesea, father of Allura Bythesea met his wife and partner Bistra Clayton in Bulgaria
Silas Bardigan went to Bulgaria to find a veela hair for a wand. He found one, but she charmed him for a few weeks, and when he asked for a hair, she changed shape and sent him running from fireballs.
Filip Dimislav and Kalina Petkov's families are from Bulgaria. Some of Sidney Dervish's extended family married into a Bulgarian family.
Simon Honeybourne's father, Steven Honeybourne was a muggle expert for the British Ministry of Magic, who relocated to Bulgaria to work.
Magizoologist, Bai Li Yang spent time in Bulgaria.
Auror Jonas Trevelyan was involved in the investigation at the 1994 Quidditch World Cup, but found Bulgarians uncooperative. [1]
When Headmistress, Analiza Snark's mission to establish the Tetrawizard Tournament included a visit to Bulgaria.
History of Magic professor, Hildegarde Austerlitz taught the fifth year students about 'magic in the Eastern Bloc'. She taught them about the Hungarian Ministry drafting youths into an army against a 'Bulgarian horde' in 1818 ahead of a swift attack. [2]
There is a book in the Hogwarts School library titled Famous Seers of Twelfth Century Bulgaria which includes Isadora the Blind. Faye Ruggles read the book in March 2010 [3]
Characters Born in Bulgaria
None yet.
