Walking Across Hot Coals
Witnessing the Improbable plus a writing prompt
It’s summer. It’s hot. A few weeks ago, there was a heat dome over the United States.
Currently as I write this, a heat dome hovers over Europe which is moving towards Bulgaria and Romania.
Last April I was visiting Bulgaria for the first time, and thinking back on my memories my mind returns to the night we saw an unusual performance.
Many of us have had the experience of walking barefoot quickly over hot sand. The sun warms the sand so that it feels as if our feet burn with every step. Even when the air temperature is below eighty degrees, the skin on the soles of our feet feels as if it is on fire.
Now imagine walking on hot coals. This ritual called Asternaria, a Christian expression of deep devotion, is still done in the Balkans. I saw it being done as “performance art” outside our restaurant Vodenitsata, located at the foot of the mountains above the city of Sofia in the neighborhood of Dragalevtsi.
Also called Pyrovasia, Fire Walking or Fire Dancing, I had not anticipated the performance I witnessed. The restaurant wasn’t easy for a tour bus to get to, as we had to drive up a series of narrow steep streets due to road construction. The experience was not specifically listed on our itinerary, perhaps that was intentional in case we were unable to reach our destination.
The last little bit of the journey was on foot and we were rewarded by arriving at an attractive restaurant, reminiscent of a hunting lodge, with interior walls of stone and brick. After we dined on crisp salads, local cheeses, grilled meats and vegetables we were invited to go outside.
It was a chilly night. Our desserts had just been set out on the table and not all of the dozen members of my tour group wanted to get up from the table. Our tour guide kept coaxing us, offering to lend a jacket to anyone who needed it.
I needed no encouragement. I was expecting some sort of folk dancing, maybe a lesson on how to folk dance; but when I saw a man wearing no shoes, spreading out a bucket of hot coals, I was surprised.
Red hot glowing coals were laid into the shape of a cross. A drum beating a steady rhythm was accompanied by bagpipes and the barefoot man was joined by a barefoot woman who held up an icon which she showed to us and carried as she walked and danced. Later, she lifted a child from the audience and carried the child as she moved across the hot coals again.
I was astonished. Was this for real?
We did not receive an explanation, at the time, but according to what I could find posted on various sites on the internet including Wikipedia, it is thought by some historians that the custom first originated in the Middle Ages when the Church of Saint Constantine, located in Kosti, Bulgaria caught on fire and voices of saints inside could be heard calling out to be rescued. Brave villagers walked back into the church to retrieve precious relics and icons. Protected by the saints, these villagers became what are called Nestinari who walk across coals. The gift of the ability to walk on hot coals is passed on from parent to child.
That’s one historical viewpoint. Another origin story is that Fire Walking was adopted from the Thracians and from pagan cults that followed Dionysus, the god of wine, religious ecstasy, theater and fertility. Like many other Christian practices and holidays, the ritual held power and the church incorporated it into their belief system.
According to the restaurant’s website the dancers fall into a trance. From what I could find in my reading, a certain amount of self-hypnosis is involved in addition to the timing of the steps. Evidently if you move quickly enough, the skin does not sustain permanent damage.
From the Kalahari bushmen in Africa to India, Figi, Tibet and Spain, firewalking is done around the world. Is it faith, an inherited gift, or impeccable timing?
Do we want the scientific explanation on how this is possible, or is it more inspiring to think about miracles?
WRITING PROMPT: Has something happened to you that defies explanation? Were you able to lift a heavy object, that in theory would have been impossible to lift? Or perhaps you had a premonition, predicted something extraordinary, and it actually happened. Was it divine intervention?
Write a story or a scene, where a character does an action that defies explanation. Maybe they walk on water, or rescue five people from a burning building, or predict and warn the inhabitants of a town to evacuate before a meteor falls to earth, thereby saving hundreds of lives. It can be a true story or something entirely fictitious.
Consider how the event affects the various characters and how it changes them. Remember to use all five senses in your descriptions. Try the same scene from different viewpoints.
Thank you for reading. If you have a folklore tradition you’d like to share or something you’d like to add, send it as a comment. You can sign up to follow me for FREE and if you enjoyed this post and want to support my writing, consider purchasing my little chapbook filled with short essays and poems.
Thanks again.
