The sky over Bulgaria

Bulgarian Folk Names of the Stars and Constellations

Bulgarian folklore has its own names for the sky: Kumova slama for the Milky Way, Kolata for the Big Dipper area of Ursa Major, Kvachkata and Vlastsi for the Pleiades, Zornitsa and Vechernitsa for Venus. Only names with a source are included here. Astronomy facts are kept apart from folk tales.

The sky with Bulgarian names

Long before telescopes and star catalogues, people read the sky through the life they knew. Bulgarian folk tradition has kept its own names and stories for the stars. This article gathers only names for which we found a verifiable source. Astronomy is science, while folk names are cultural heritage, so we present them as such next to the modern scientific names.

Kumova slama – the Milky Way

The Milky Way is the spiral galaxy that contains the Solar System. From Earth we see the stars of its disc as a pale band. The scientific name comes from the Latin Via Lactea (“milky way”). In Bulgarian folklore this band is Kumova slama (“the godfather’s straw”) or simply Slamata (“the straw”). The tale is recorded in many popular retellings. In them, a harsh winter leaves a poor man without straw for his oxen. He secretly takes some from his godfather, but the basket has a hole and the straw marks a trail, so the theft is discovered. In one variant, the godfather or an angel decrees that the straw should shine as a reminder that one does not steal from a godfather. It is a moral tale: scattered straw becomes a bright trail. Read more about the galaxy in The Milky Way and about the name in Kumova slama.

Kolata – Ursa Major

Ursa Major (the Great Bear) is one of the 88 constellations recognised by the IAU (International Astronomical Union). Its seven brightest stars form the Big Dipper, an asterism (a recognisable pattern that is part of a larger constellation). According to popular descriptions, the line through the two stars at the end of the Dipper’s bowl, Merak and Dubhe, points to Polaris, the North Star. Bulgarians saw an ox cart in these stars. In some accounts it is attacked by a wolf. In another tale a bear is harnessed in place of the ox it ate, which is why the cart is “crooked”. The same constellation thus carries a very different image in Bulgarian folklore. See Ursa Major and Ursa Major in Bulgarian tradition.

Kvachkata and Vlastsi – the Pleiades

The Pleiades are an open star cluster in the constellation Taurus. To the naked eye, six or seven stars are usually visible. Bulgarians called them Kvachkata (“the broody hen”), Kvachkata s pilcite (“the hen with her chicks”), Kokoshkata (“the hen”), Stozheri and Vlastsi. According to an author cited in the press, people saw six, seven or eight chicks and a hen, and the group appeared in the sky between Todorovden and Gergyovden. In folk belief, the movement of Kvachkata was a sign about the year. For example, one belief says that if it sets before Nikulden, the year will be fruitful. This is a folk belief, not a scientific claim.

The folklorist Ancho Kaloyanov suggests that the areas where two groups of variants of one ballad are found follow the two names of the Pleiades. Variants with seven brothers go with Vlastsi (“the sevensome”), and those with five go with Kvachka s pilentsa (“the fivesome”). He also links the pursuit of the Vlastsi with Orach/Ralitsa, that is, Orion. This is his hypothesis about folk astronomy, not an established fact. Todor Mollov notes that in songs from Eastern Bulgaria, Vlastsi (Kvachkata) are tied to a specific plot in Christmas carols. See The Pleiades and Vlashici and the Pleiades.

Zornitsa and Vechernitsa – Venus

Venus is a planet, not a star, and is the brightest “star” in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. It is seen sometimes in the morning before sunrise and sometimes in the evening after sunset. Folk astronomy treats it as two stars. In the morning it is Zornitsa (“the dawn star”), and in the evening Vechernitsa (“the evening star”). According to the Dictionary of Bulgarian Folk Spiritual Culture, they are sisters. In another myth they are sisters of the Sun and the Moon: Zornitsa lights the Sun’s way and Vechernitsa lights the Moon’s. The same dictionary records local names such as Zorata, Golyamata zvezda (“the great star”) and Utrenitsa. A radio feature also mentions Denitsa and Ovcharskata zvezda (“the shepherd’s star”). It is a lovely detail that people saw two faces of one and the same object. See Venus and Zornitsa and Vechernitsa.

What we do not claim

Folk names are cultural riches, not astronomical statements. Not every name is known across the whole country: many are local. So for each name we say where it comes from, and where no source exists, we leave it out. Interpretations by folklorists, for example about links between stars and rituals, are hypotheses of their authors. They are not established facts.

How to look for these images

Warm, clear nights are best for a walk under the sky. Try finding Kolata by the Big Dipper and show it to your family. Look for Kvachkata as a small hazy patch of tightly packed stars. Notice whether Venus appears in the morning or in the evening to know which sister you are seeing. In this way, one observer can read the sky both with the eyes of science and with the eyes of tradition.

We hope these names give you a reason to look up and wonder how people did so before us. If you know a local name with a recorded source, we would be glad to add it.

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