The Ideology Of The Ninth And Tenth Centuries 125
swim and dive underwater they are also creatures that provide a link between
worlds. It is therefore quite logical that in Scythia they were regarded as a sym-
bol of kingship.513 According to O. Minaeva, “the symbolism of water birds in
Indo-European mythology is associated with the cult of Anahita and Saraswati
and with the idea of fertility in general”.514 On the other hand, in (Volga) Bulgar
archaeological finds, as well as in the folkloric and ethnographic materials of
the peoples, inhabiting the Middle Volga Region, the duck symbolizes the sun
and the sky element. The duck is one of the most widespread birds in Tatar
folklore. Usually, it is of pure gold or pearl and symbolizes the sun. Baptized
Tatars regarded the white duck as a sacrificial bird dedicated to the sun.515
The relation of the zmei-maidens from the Kuninsko Lake to earthly power
is also evident from the legend about “the last battle against the Turks, in
which a band of 40 maidens died, led by Kuna Queen”.516 The hero (Marko)
acquires supernatural powers after drinking milk from a she-zmei. And “only
one born from a snake can be a zmei-fighter”.517 In Bulgarian folklore, the hero-
child is born by a mother that conceives without a man,518 and the “maiden,
sick from “zmei love”, gives birth to a child in the house of her suitor, a cave atop
a mountain”.519
Of particular importance in Bulgarian folklore is the divine family. According
to it, the Sun and the Crescent Moon are brothers (as in the works of John
Exarch) whose mother lives in the sky. It could be presumed that the mother of
the Sun embodies the goddess of fertility. The Sun is depicted as a fair arbiter
and a patron of fertility. It possesses magical powers and cures childlessness.
The Sun has also a sister who races with a hero on horseback.520 Of particular
interest is also the very old Bulgarian notion that the Sun has no father. It is no
accident that according to traditional beliefs it is a buffalo-calf, a calf.521
513 Raevskii 1977, 60; Flerova 2001a, 50.
514 Minaeva 1988, 50.
515 Davletshin 1990, 48.
516 Kaloianov 2003, 302.
517 Bochkov 1994, 39–40.
518 Venedikov 1987, 177.
519 Kaloianov 1995, 32.
520 Venedikov 1987, 258, 265–266, 274, 283, and 390; Venedikov 1997, 120, 124, 135, and 139–
- See also Kaloianov 2000, 62–84. According to Bulgarian beliefs, the Crescent Moon
(Mesets) has also a female image (Mesechina) and as such is sister to the Sun. It is depicted
as a cow (Georgieva 1993, 19 and 25–26). On the androgynous nature of the Moon (called
Marta, Mara mesechina) as an image of the Great Goddess and its relation to Marko, see
Stepanov 2007, 46–47. See also Kaloianov 1996, 147–151.
521 Georgieva 1993, 19, 25, and 28.