Legends, myths and traditions,
connected with the cultural objects in the municipality of Chepelare
VILLAGE OF PAVELSKO:
Zarenitsa Fortress:
1. Location:
It is located on the left bank of Lyutidol River, located 5 km to the east of the village of Pavelsko and 5 km to the south of Narechenski Bani Resort.
2. Age:
The chronicles of T. Skutariot and G. Akropolit about the fights of Byzantines and Bulgarian in ղ century say nothing about it.
There is scanty historical information about the Zarenitsa Fortress. The only archaeological finds here provide some information about the locality around the Zarenitsa Fortress. Many old pots of rough red mortar were found here, as well as tombs, coals, bones and others. In 1925 treasure-hunters went down by a rope into the cleft to the fortress and found remains of weapons. It was again in 1925 when a double-edged knife, a brass scabbard and a snake head were also found in the east part of the fortress.
3. Description:
B) G. Pashev the year of 1983:
There is a 200-meter sheer wall from the east side of the Zarenitsa Fortress, which is inaccessible from the side of Lyutidol River. The fortress is accessible only from it west side the locality of Gora. Its protective wall, which is now destroyed, is 213 meters in length and was found in the year of 1978. The inside wall is 11 meters in length and its walls of 3.40 meters thickness are very well preserved. The entrance of the Zarenitsa Fortress is 3 meters width. There is a wall with a length of 12 meters from it, to the south of the edge of the sheer rock. To the north of the entrance of the fortress, next to the first loop-hole are 18 meters. It stands 3 meters outside the wall. Then there is a 27-meter wall to the east of the second loop-hole, which is quadrangular and bigger than the first one. There are another 36 meters to the edge of the sheer wall. It is of great interest that many of the measures of the Zarenitsa Fortress are multiple to the number 3. The total are of the fortress between its walls is about 2 decares. There is no water today in the area of the Zarenitsa Fortress, but in springtime, when the snow melts from its north side, a wet spot appears, called Amuzhova Padina (Amuzhova Trough), which proves that maybe this was the place of its water source.
C) Bozhidar Chaparov year of 1981:
The Thracian fortress Zarenita in the village of Pavelsko is also very well preserved, dating back from the V- c. BC. It was built on the hill of the same name (1251 meters) along the ridge of Radyuva Mountain. It used to guard the big Thracian road from Abdera (on the Aegean Sea) for Istros (the Danube). The fortress was scientifically documented for the first time by the Rhodopes-78 expedition. It has two parallel walls: an outside wall, which is 214 meters in length, and an inside wall with an entrance and two towers.
4. Legends connected with the name of the fortress:
The most famous legend says that the fortress was defended against the Turkish by the brave man Zaryu. The following is an article without an author, published om 28th April 1882 in the Plovdiv newspaper, called Narodniy Glas (People's Voice): There is an old man at the age of 107, who tells the story that the Bulgarian hero Zaryu resisted the Turkish at the Zarenitsa Fortress. It was night, and the defenders of the fortress had no bread left and help. A cry came from the army, it was timing foggy, the Turkish broke in; they considered it a cry of surrender. The Turkish, in the vortex of their fight, were entering through the open gates of the fortress, through the sheer wall of the precipice. The dead bodies began to smell bad and thus the name Lyutidol (The Hot Ravine) was given to the ravine.
According to another legend the beauty Zarena (Zorina), together with her father Sabazi, who lived in the near caves, jumped from the rocks of the fortress because of unrequited love. She had a beloved who used to come every day to meet her and see her at the sheer rock. But then one day he did not come and the desperate and broken-hearted young girl jumped into the precipice.
Vasil Dechev tells two legends of the local population connected with the conquest of the fortress. According to the first legend the Zarenitsa Fortress was conquered by the Turkish after a bitter and short fight. The Turkish took it by assault and slaughtered not only its defenders in it, but many other local residents, captured in the neighbouring villages and forests. The dead bodies of all killed were thrown in the precipice and when they started smelling bad the whole ravine became smelling and thats how it became hot. Thus the name Lyutidol (The Hot Ravine) was given to the place. According to the second legend the defenders of the Zarenitsa Fortress, without any food left, decided to leave the fortress. In a dark night, when the siege army was sleeping, the defenders silently opened the two gates of the fortress. Then they sneaked out through the door next to the precipice. Before the dawn broke, the Turkish understood what was happening and impetuously rushed at their enemies. But they did not see the precipice for they were deluded and confused in the darkness, and many Turkish and their horses fell into this terrible precipice. Their dead bodies became hot and smelling and since that time the ravine was called LyutidolӔ (The Hot Ravine).
Locality of Banya and Locality of St. Nikola:
It is located 1 km to the west of the village of Pavelsko, from where T. Ivanov published in 1950 a votive tablet of a Thracian rider. He considers that there was an antique building with a medicinal spring there. The votive tablet represents a rider with a mantle, waving from his shoulders, spurring his horse to the right and representing the hero for the Thracians. Many traditional symbols can not be seen on the votive tablet, such as a dog, a wild boar, a lion, a bull, a woman, Apollos Lyre or a tree with a coiled snake. It is obvious that this tablet was made by a master who was part of national and plainer school. Such tablets were presented by the pilgrims of got Asklepios. It is presumed that there was a sanctuary of Asklepios in the locality of Banya at the spring and on the near hill, where the foundations of an old building can be seen, and where the biggest chapel in the village of Pavelsko, called St. Nikolay, was later built. In 1911, after archaeological finds in Banya, the foundations of a Roman bathroom where found, made of bricks and carved stone, welded with mortar; a fireplace for boiling water, etc. The analyses of the mineral water from the same locality, made in the Medical Academy Sofia in 1989, read as follows: The mineral water from the village of Pavelsko, of general mineralization of 0.765 g/l, is characterized as cold, with low mineral level, hydrocarbonate, sodium and fluoric, without any sanitary and chemical indications of contamination. The fluoric content of 2 mg/l makes the water mineral. Its use by drinking is conductive to gastric-intestinal, renal/urological, liver/biliary and metabolic-endocrine diseases. The water is suitable for caries prevention as well.
Dr. M. Popov, MMSc., agrees that there was an asclepion in the village of Pavelsko, that is a centre for medical knowledge, for the Thracians, and for practical help, provided by doctors-priests at the temple of Asklepios, the ancient god of health. The asklepion in the village of Pavelsko, according to Dr. Popov, was the place where the old folk beliefs were preserved, such as the cult of the snake, the personification of the recuperation of all sick people. The cult is of human characteristics in the images of the bearded god Asklepios, propped up by a stick with a wrapped snake, the modern medical sign, etc. With respect to the ancient Thracian medical school of Zalmoksis a wizard, a physician and a priest for the Thracians, Platon (428-347 BC) says that he knew of from a physician of Zalmoksis. This physician also brought to him the knowledge about the Thracian concept of the constitution as a whole each organ has influence on the other organs, and all are guided by something higher that is the soul. The body can not be healed when the soul is neglected. The Thracians healed the soul by good talks and suggestions.
VILLAGE OF OREHOVO:
Chelevyashta Dupka (Chelevyashta Hole) Cave:
When the rumours of Turkish atrocities reached the village of Orehovo, the peasant hid the younger peasants hid in the forest, and the old peasants, the women and the children hid in the near cave. The Turkish looked for them for a long time and finally decided to to use guile. Few people put on female clothes, climbed the near hill and started screaming in Bulgarian language: Go home, I say and, the scapegraces have gone away! After hearing this, the residents of Orehovo started coming out of the cave one by one. But soon they found out that they were cheated and hid again. The Turkish urged them to come back few times, when the ringleader of the Turkish ordered the cave entrance to be closed by pine branches, wet straw and foliage leaves, and to burn them. The smoke filled the cave, but the people inside preferred the agonizing death than to renounce their belief. From then on the cave is called Cheloveshkata Dupka (The Human Hole). Arnaudov informs that according to Iliya Valchanov the tragedy in the village of Orehovo refers to a later period (for the time of Kardzhali until the end of Vղ c.)
The citizens of Kardzhali attacked the village few times, but every time it was empty. Then they suspected that Islam a scapegrace (borovets converted to Mohammedanism, i.e. a resident of the village of Borovo, which had vanished in the area of the village of Orehovo), forewarns the residents of Orehovo and killed him. But the village was empty when they attacked it again. Then the Turkish made guile. One scapegrace put on himself a woollen overcoat and shouted from the hill above the village: Come, I say, the scapegraces went away The echo spread all over the area. The hidden scapegraces saw that people came out on the opposite rocks of Lingaritsa. Then the scapegraces rushed upwards and found the cave its hole was hidden to the ground, and the whole village was hidden inside. They promised wealth to the residents of Orehovo if they convert to Mohammedanism. But the residents of Orehovo remained silent. Then the scapegraces filled the hope of the cave with straw and burnt the whole village. This cave still exists and is known as Cheleveshtata Dupka (the Human Cave). According to the legend, it is the first church the residents of Orehovo.
According to the legend part of the population of the village of Orehovo, mainly children and old people, hid in the cave in the locality of Zagrad. But the scapegraces used guile and found them, and blocked the entrance of the cave with straw and burnt it. One boy, called Delo, survived from the burning cave, later called Cheleveshta Dupka (Cheleveshta Hole). This boy Delo was the son of the settler from Boruskevo Milo, who later became the founder of the Delo family. Delo is a grandfather of Dimitar Radyuv (Rusafin). The boy crawled through the passes of the cave, while trying to escape the lethal smoke, and finally went out in the night at the other end of the cave.
The chance that part of the residents of Orehovo were burnt in the Cheleveshtata Dupka Cave by the scapegraces is proven by few publications and written information of local residents of the village in the past. Some of them are as follows:
We can definitely state, by taking into consideration and above-mentioned information, that the tragedy in Cheleveshtata Dupka Cave happened in the Vղ century and more likely in its second half. If we take into consideration the fact that the village of Boruskevo was demolished before this by scapegraces, and that the scapegraces were the ones who attacked the village of Orehovo, we can suggest that the even took place around the last decade of the Vղ century, when the unrests of Kardzhali broke out. This is so because the two legends create the impression that this even is about a mass movement of scapegraces. However, this is not obligatory because, as history shows, Plovdiv, back in the year of 1700, accused the residents that they were haidouks. However, there is one thing for sure, namely that the resident of Orehovo who died in the Cheleveshtata Dupka Cave fought back not to be converted to Mohammedanism.
Then the following question arises: Why there is no information about any burnt relatives in the cave in the family legends of Orehovo? That is so maybe because only few people hid in the Cheleveshtata Dupka Cave that were mainly old people and children, and the other residents of the village were either not in the village at that time, or hid in another place.
Tsirikova Cherkva Peak (Tsirikova Church):
When the Ottoman troops conquered Ropkata and rushed at the village of Zabardo, they reached a village, called Staro Selo (Old Village), located to the south of the Tsirikova Cherkva Peak (Tsirikova Church). There was a fortress at the peak and the residents of the village hid in it when they heard that Zarenitsa fell under the conquerors. The Ottoman troops besieged the fortress and tried to penetrate into it, but a number of burning brands and boiling water on the heads of the conquerors. The bread and water finished after few days. The defenders of the fortress were put to test. Then the men started killing their wives and children, so that they were not captured alive by the Turkish. The conquerors finally invaded the fortress. They started taking out the last defenders of the fortress who resembled skeletons after the many days of hunger and thirst. According to the legend some of them converted to Mohammedanism, but most of them remained true to their honour and belief. The last were then taken to the edge of the near precipice at the southern part of the peak. Their hands and eyes were then bound and they were pushed into the precipice. Their cries from the bottom of the precipice could be heard for one whole week. Thus this locality was called Tsirkovitsa (Cries).
VILLAGE OF ZABARDO:
Cheleveshtnitsa Precipice Cave:
This cave is located to the south-west of the village of Zabardo, in the locality of Aidarski Kaman (Aidarski Stone) (in the high parts of the stone). According to the legend Gordyu Voivode was once the ruler of this territory. The remains of his fortress can be still seen on the opposite hill. The defenders of the fortress were brave and fearless, but few, and the enemy was strong in numbers. The brave Bulgarian men could not resist the siege and were captured by the Turkish. The revenge was merciless all giaours to be thrown alive into the precipice together with their horses and weapons.
The cave was examined for the first time in the year of 1962 by the International Bulgarian and Polish expedition. Professor Kovalska, who is an outstanding spelaeologist, also took part in the direction of this expedition. Two iron swords were found in the gravels and clays of the precipice. One of these swords is cross-shaped and with a broken handle and top. The other sword is completely preserved and of weird shape - slightly round, long and described as rompheya in the literature by E. Silio in section 4, page 863 (round like a sickle a halberd designed for cutting people). This is a massive army cold steel of Thracian and Illyrian origin, which was unknown to the Greeks in Antiquity until the Macedonian period. Although the mercenaries had the chance to spread its name right up to Alexandria in the beginning of the century BC, this was the time when the sectarians adopted this name in order to name the weapon, which was taken by their god of war from the Babylonian heroes. Not until the year of 221 BC when we find the name rampheya that is connected with a historical fact. In the year of 200 BC the size of this weapon does not allow to the allies Thracians, of Philip V, sheltered along the slopes of Pind, to use it. The same weapon carried on the right shoulder by the Thracians who were part of the advanced guard of Persius, which used to strike terror in the Roman troops. It is evident that Enius Latinized it then under the name of rumpiya in verses, referring to the Istrian war in the year of 178 BC. These verses were most probably used as a model for Valerius Frakus, when he described the arms of the bastrans Celtic tribes, which mastered the rompheya during their long stay in Illyria. Obviously this weapon was used for a long time by the local population of this region. After this the weapon was taken to Rome and used by the slaves and the gladiators. An example for this is Vireya who stabbed with the rumpiya the shoulder of Claudius, as well as how this weapon was used by the martiobarbuli from the legions of Illyrium. The two swords are given to the Plovdiv Museum, to Petar Detev who is the head of the Prehistoric Department. The rompeya is entered under Inventory No. 450, and the cross-shaped sword is entered under Inventory No. 451.
During the Republican expedition, organized by the Bulgarian Federation of Speleology, were found other objects, except for the two swords at the bottom of the precipice, namely: 5(4) iron spear gads in the shape of a willow leaf, 2 lances and many bones of adults. The bones of one of the horses, thrown into the precipice together with his owner, could not be taken out due to landslide.
The cave precipice is 36 meters in depth. A gigantic cone starts from its bottom and consists from below of a thick clay and soil bar. Thousands of stones are conglomerated on it, at places supported by huge, overhanging blocks. Al of the above-mentioned finds were found between the stones in the lowest part (about 50 meters of displacement from the entrance) and from parts of the middle (as far as the conditions there allowed any works).
