More-than-Human Dwelling as a Palimpsest of Co-existence

A Snapshot of Pastoral Space-Time Interval

Milena Metalkova-Markova

Introduction and Main Research Question

There is an area on both sides of the border between Bulgaria and Serbia within the Western Balkan mountains, once predominantly populated by Turlaks, an ethnic minority group of pastoral communities with a particular dialect of Bulgarian and/or Serbian origin, house building and spirit story telling traditions. Living within harsh mountain circumstances with settlements spread across river valleys, people made their livelihood by breeding goats, sheep and cattle since pre-historic times. Nomads moved with animals to find grazing lands high in the mountains, carefully managing nature resources and competition between shepherds.

In 2024-2025 our international team of conservation architects and an illustrator embarked on a research project to survey some of the oldest existing timber dwellings, and to learn about the rituals and spirit stories in two villages on the Bulgarian side and three villages at the Serbian side of the former Turlak region. We quickly learned that in the Turlak dialect there are a dozen words to describe house-related spirits, and we became very curious about the role they played within the cosmology of Turlaks culture.

We started with some houses and interviews in the Bulgarian villages of Chuprene and Stakevtzi near the town of Belogradchik with its world-famous rocks and an ancient fortification. From geological point of view the rocks of Belogradchik are phenomenon with global significance as a world standard for extraordinarily beautiful landscape, where nature has created number of original anthropomorphic rock sculptures. The rocks of Belogradchik were nominated to the World "New Wonders of Nature" campaign in 2007.

Space and Spirits: Mapping as a Method of Inquiry

Talking to residents about house building rituals and the meaning of different spirits, to draw a map reflecting what we have seen, researched and heard was the most natural way to visualize all the complex data from interviews, books, articles and conversations. Our map is a snapshot of a pastoral space-time interval between the history of the place as remembered by residents (born at the beginning of 20th century) and the present-day reality of the remaining Turlak culture. Our map tries to connect the mountainous landscapes, settlement patterns, vernacular house forms and a variety of spirits co-inhabiting human spaces.

Some fairy tales, local sayings and witty remarks by residents are woven within the map as well as objects we have found in local museums or abandoned house paraphernalia. Some of the illustrations in the border area of the map are from an old A-Z book a local primary school teacher in Chuprene had created to help his pupils when learning the alphabet. Our map served as a stage where our learning from the Bulgarian villages is captured to be performed during the interviews in the Serbian side of the villages.

One of the major complexities of mapping the spirits and their origin was the fact that this territory has been witness to a succession of ancient animist beliefs, pagan pantheon of gods and spirits, medieval Bogomil cosmology persecuted by Christianity (both Catholic and East Orthodox) and a communist period that attempted to ‘cleanse’ all religious rituals and traditions. Graphically we have tried to show this blend of religious tradition by selecting a frame from a family photo discovered in a surveyed house in Chuprene which, in my view, resembles the style of graphic decoration of one of the earliest copies of a Gospel from medieval Bulgaria, which is the manuscript of Tzar Ivan Aleksander (available to be seen at the British Library).

The complexity of integrating local beliefs and rituals into the stories of saints and spirits proclaimed in the Bible and Gospels is not unique to the Turlak region, for it is seen in many other high mountainous regions in the area which were not easily accessible from the major trade routes of Christianity. An example of this is the ritual Svetatz (Saint) where each family celebrates a family guardian saint usually selected by a small child in a random manner. Superstitions were mixed with doctrines thus creating a unique syncretic spirituality quite flexible to adopt, adapt and include.

Our map shows a daylight picture of both Bulgarian villages, slowly transitioning to the night sky where local spirits move amidst constellations. An elderly resident had answered our question about spirits – before the electricity came to the village we were talking a lot about spirits- they disappeared under the strong light of the electric bulbs on the poles. The world of spirits in the dark and shadows maintains the equilibrium with the sunlight and visibility in a continuum.

Toward a Taxonomy of Dwelling and Village Spirits

The mountain region, which is 500 to 1000m height above sea level, has been inhabited since pre-historic times by various ethnic groups with diverse beliefs and customs. Turlaks as they are known in Bulgaria have a specific dialect, sense of humour and many words for spirits in the house, village and mountain. They are mostly animal breeders of sheep, horses, oxen, and donkeys. Family homes are small, made of stone foundations, a timber skeleton, adobe walls and heavy slate roof. Life depends on the animals for heat, food, clothes and companionship.

The spirits illustrate villagers’ main fears, which relate to the black cat in Serbia that comes at night to drink baby’s blood and the efforts villagers go to prevent the early death of children. The genderache house guardian spirit inhabits the fireplace and roof to ensure the house is in order, and the fire is kept alive. The bulina owl sound reminds mothers about caring for their children. It is curious that spirits are spatially bound to the fireplace, bedroom, roof space, yard, river, bridge, forest and key landscape features. They represent a system of intuitive mapping for orientation and respect of borders; of the house, the family domain, neighbours, community, and village. Spirits acted as regulatory signs for moral behaviour taught in oral traditions by the elderly to children. They are most tightly related to darkness and night. An old man told us that with the introduction of electricity to the village, all spirits disappeared.

The mountain villagers live partially in isolation from dominant political and governing systems. Christianity has come, but in a quite different form and contents, absorbing many pagan beliefs and sanctifying previous rituals. It is an enormous effort for any administration to try to control these difficult to access regions, so villagers were granted an independent status during the 500 years of Ottoman empire if they pay their taxes.

The majority of benevolent spirits were absorbed into the semi-Christian belief in Svetatz, a village guardian saint and an independent family guardian saint. One can pray and rely to Svetatz for anything. The malevolent spirits such as tenatz and talasam somehow resemble the devil in form and actions.

The modification of diverse beliefs (Djin from Islam was integrated into the spirits’ pantheon too) shaped in Christian envelop is highly curious as a hybrid form between religion, agricultural rites and animism. The relationship to space, interconnecting one’s home and yard to the neigbours, relatives, mahala district, village and the surrounding farm and mountain land represents a striking tapestry of a witty survival in harsh climatic conditions where men, animals and spirits inhabit consistently and obstinately hardly accessible slopes, valleys and spines.

Conclusion

The map is not the territory as Michel Houellebecq proved in his novel. However, the map here is showing the knowledge and interpretation of the artist. In our Space and Spirits compilation we have tried to capture a few fragments of the Turlak cosmology- the way people have created spiritual markers in the spaces they inhabit to help them survive, continue to shape families and communities in an intimate dependency on nature, rocks, forests, rivers, animals, wind and snow. Living in modestly sized simple dwellings, built by natural materials, Turlaks have known how to tame nature and live in harmony within its vast and sublime spacious wilderness. This wilderness has been carefully woven into a carpet of colourful threads – spirits mark different spatial and emotional borderlines between private and public, family and strangers, friends and foes. The children follow the bright colours of the spirit trajectories to learn discipline, empathy, physical and emotional intelligence and survival skills. The adults follow the subdues colours and ambiguous nuances to learn how to thread emotional turmoil, human relationships crisis and disconcerted feelings. There is a thread for everyone in this carpet as a palimpsest of coexistences.

Acknowledgment

This project was funded by EWAP programme with a number EWAP3121SG in 2024-2025 with PI Dr. Milena Metalkova-Markova from the University of Portsmouth. The Endangered Wooden Architecture Programme (EWAP), Oxford Brookes University, funded by Arcadia, a charitable foundation that works to protect nature, preserve cultural heritage and promote open access to knowledge. Further details about the team and fieldworks can be found at the project website- https://sites.google.com/view/vernacularbalkans/home?fbclid=IwY2xjawFFaeJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQAHYn3rU9J2C74bSTnLppCiWGplD3tTKlcFXWpU7ScRiRz9g06M6BkqSbmIg_aem_ByPx8rvXx5n3A0kJrPsWjA The team has been supported substantially by local collaborators architects in Bulgaria and Serbia, NGO such as Balkan Arhitrav as well as local residents and administration bodies.