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Thank you.
From the ever-laudable Bulgaria International:
Dark cloud in the sky
Even a single dark cloud in the sky would be enough to trigger a torrent of Bulgarian folk beliefs. If we add some rain, hails and thunderstorms, lightning and fog, a whole new mythological world will emerge to our fascination.
Bulgarian folk meteorology classifies clouds as summer and winter ones. Summer clouds herald rain and hails. Winter clouds bring snow, freezing cold and ice. The patrons of the two kinds of clouds are two saints from the Bulgarian Christianized pagan mythology. Bulgarian ancient myths recount the story of the primary division of the world between two brother saints. St. Elijah took control of summer clouds, thunder and lighting. That is why he flies above the bright skies and gathers fog and clouds to lock them into the Black Sea. Only he can decide when to unlock them to send dew or summer rainfalls to the earth. In turn winter clouds, ice and snow were controlled by the Winter saint Atanasius.
In folklore clouds are also divided into dark and bright ones. When a bright, clear cloud appeared in the sky, peasants rejoiced. They knew that such clouds would bring a penetrating rain and fertility. In folk beliefs bright clouds were inhabited by angels and by God. Unlike them dark clouds triggered fears, as they were known to bring torrential rains, floods and hails. In the contours of the dark cloud peasants saw a horrible dragon with huge wings and sword-like thick tail. When a dragon cloud overtook the village, villagers peered into the sky hoping to see an imperial eagle emerging there. They believed that the mighty bird with a cross on its back, could banish the dragon cloud away form the fields.
Folk songs are the scene of mythical battles with the dark clouds bringing the nature’s elements. The most down-to-earth version of this tale involves a dragon cloud and a village youth. The guy is brave indeed, but his valor has been fuelled by a handsome quantity of red wine. No one dares challenge him. However, a dark cloud heard about the hero and descended above the village bringing a thunderstorm and saying: “Come out good hero, for a battle.” The duel went on for three weeks. Finally, the dark cloud prevailed and dragged the young hero away. Then the youth cried for mercy and promised to pay a hefty ransom. The hero counted on support from his mother who reined over three cities. The son asked her to pledge her three cities to ransom his life. But the mother refused to give her three cities away to the dragon.
In a similar song the mother pledged her three cities to ransom her son’s life. In this version of the tale however, the son is a young dragon. This is probably a more ancient tale preceding the one centered on the human hero. More ancient layers of Bulgarian mythology exhibit the idea that winged dragons are guardians of the fields and the harvest. So, dragons would come out to fight evil dark clouds threatening to ruin the crops. Later these archetypal images of the nature’s elements were Christianized. At that point the tale transformed. The duel now involved the Christian saint Elijah and the mythical dragon. The battle ended up with the dragon’s victory. While Elijah was in his captivity, a severe draught seized the earth. It went on for three years. Then all saints gathered and read in their books how to free the saint patron of fecund rain. So they summoned the stonemasons. The masons broke the stone in which St. Elijah was being held captive. When they released him, the fine, penetrating rain began to fall, bringing rich crops of grain, pears and walnuts. The harvest would then feed new human heroes of tremendous strength – just like the hero who dared confront the dark cloud.
Natural elements have also penetrated some folk songs based on triviality. In one such song ground frost fell in early autumn and destroyed two wheat fields. The landlord was in despair, but the fields did not trouble his daughter. She felt miserable because her sweetheart had been engaged to someone else. In another song fog blanketed the peak of Karluk in the southern Bulgarian mountain Rhodope. A blond girl and a young dark-eyed shepherd were the only ones caught in the fog. They were unhappy because they were not allowed to marry. In this way the man-nature relationship finds diverse poetic expressions in Bulgarian folklore.
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