Spaska Vangelova has been taking care of Baba Vanga’s flowers.
I remember Baba Vanga since I was a child. When she and her husband arrived in Petrich, she became popular within months. I must have been 5-6 year old, but I still remember how hundreds of people lined up every day in front of her house. Me and the rest of the kids from the neighbourhood were often playing nearby her house, as she would often go out and give us candies and chocolate. To some extent Baba Vanga was a relative of mine. I became an orphan at the age of one. The man that have adopted me, was the best man at Baba Vanga’s wedding. So I often called her godmother.
When I was 14 Baba Vanga advised me to apply for a work at the grocery store that was right across her house. She told me that I both will earn money, and will be close to her to help her when she needed me. This is what happened – I got the job at the store, and was visiting her almost every day. I would sweep her yard, water the flowers, wash the pathways, etc. Since I had studied gardening, Baba Vanga allowed only me to take care of her garden – both in Rupite and in Petrich. I still remember her last words before she passed away:”Spaska, please don’t leave my garden when I pass away.”
She really loved her flowers from the bottom of her heart.
Baba Vanga About Cleanliness
It was 1955 – I was 14 at the time. I went to see Baba Vanga, and she asked me to sweep the yard. I took the broom, and spent at least an hour, to thoroughly clean the area. Then on my way home Baba Vanga told me: “Well you sweep well my dear, but when you go to your mother-in-law is this how you are going to sweep her yard?” It turned out, that somehow Baba Vanga had noticed a little bean husk behind the yard door, that I have missed. I don’t know what is this called, but her sense of cleanliness was a precedent. I remember very well one day when we had a celebration at Baba Vanga’s house. The guests brought some wine, grilled turkey, baklava. We had a nice party, and after it finished I rolled up my sleeves and when to the kitchen to help with the dishes. On the very last dish, I didn’t see a microscopic tomato spot, which again was noticed by Baba Vanga. “Is this how you wash the dishes? Why did you rush through the last dish – how can I serve it like that to my guests?” – she said to me. I really got mad and replied: “Well I will no longer wash your dishes or sweep your yard. What can I do – I can’t “see” so perfectly as you do.”
She yelled back at me: “Shame on you – I don’t have eyes but I see better than you! Be more focused the next time”
Baba Vanga was a very gifted knitter. She knitted the most beautiful vests I have ever seen. One time, without asking her I grabbed her knitting, and did a few rows. She was mad at me as she didn’t like what I have done at all. She was right, the part that I did was significantly different than hers. I don’t remember if I knew a person that was able to knit so smoothly and evenly like Baba Vanga.
When she was younger, Baba Vanga was cooking every day. Everything she prepared was amazingly delicious. I don’t know if she was casting spells on her meals, what was it, but her meals were so soft and sweet as honey. She cooked everything on a low heat. Her bean stew was probably the best I’ve ever tasted. She also cooked a lot of vegetarian meals.
We had this joke where I would taste something and would ask her about the recipe, and she wouldn’t tell me what it is, as I have eyes and I am suppose to watch and learn by myself. She taught me how to make miraculous banitza (staffed fillo with feta cheese) and tikvenic (staffed fillo with pumpkin). She loved to invite people, and to serve them her meals. She didn’t eat much – just enough so she survives. What she loved very much was Anis liquor. She used to joke: “If I don’t drink Anis, how can I read on people? The Anis helps me to remember more.”
Often she was giving me a shot of Anis, so I make her company. Indeed the Anis did make me feel refreshed, and not drunk at all. Baba Vanga always was stocked with her favourite drink, and often asked people to bring her more, when she finished her reserves.
As mentioned already, I knew Baba Vanga and her husband since they came to Petrich. My step father was their best man at their wedding. The sister of my step mother was engaged to Mitko. My parents told me the story that when Mitko was 20 years old, he went to Strumitza to ask Baba Vanga about his brother who disappeared during the war. Baba Vanga directly told him that he will leave his fiancé and will marry her, because this was a written destiny. Mitko couldn’t believe her words at first, but later this is exactly how it happened.
At first they lived in a small and miserable house that only had one room and a hallway. Later Mitko built himself a bigger house – he was a very gifted handyman. This is when hundreds of people started to visit Baba Vanga every day. They improved their financial situation, and few years later Mitko became an alcoholic. He was a very good man.
My destiny was similar – I also had a drunkard in my house. I remember I asked Baba Vanga how can I help my husband and she replied: “If there was a cure for this disease, I would have first helped my husband, and then help others. If this is your luck, you will bear it the way it is, until you or he dies.”
One time I asked Baba Vanga why she didn’t give birth to a child. She answered: “I could give birth to 10 children if I wanted to. But it is not only important to do that – you have to raise a child, you have to educate it. If I take one misfortunate child and help him – will I be not a mother?”
Before her husband became an alcoholic they had a happy and united life. Baba Vanga had guests very often, and she and her husband were great hosts. Over the years, when they decided not to have their own children, they decided to adopt one. Veneta was their first adopted child. She was from Resilovo village, province of Dupnitza. She came from a family that had three children, and they were living in great misery. Baba Vanga and Mitko asked the parents if they can take care of their daughter and they agreed. They haven’t adopted her officially, and took her home when she was 3. Later when Baba Vanga became a widow, she adopted her second child – Dimitar Valtchev. She went to Kapatovo village and asked the father of Dimitar – Krastyo, if she can raise him. Without a lot of hesitation, Krastyo agreed as similarly to Veneta’s parents, his family was very poor and they barely met the two ends. Dimitar was about 12-13 years old. He graduated school with distinction, and then went to Moscow to study law. He graduated it, and later became a well-respected prosecutor.
Baba Vanga had a big heart. Besides Veneta and Dimitar she wanted to take other children as well. She was always trying to help people, to give back. Children were very special for her. One day a young girl from Haskovo came to ask Baba Vanga about her health. She was such a beautiful child. Baba Vanga told her the name of the doctor that she needs to go to, as well as some other advices how to treat her condition. The girl reached into her plastic bag to take 20 levs (about $15) and to give them to Baba Vanga. The prophetess smiled and told her: “If I take your money now, how are you going to go back? You haven’t had a breakfast nor dinner. Put this money away, and here is some more, so you can buy some food.”
Baba Vanga reached into her pocket and grabbed all the money she had from other visitors and gave it to the child. She didn’t even try to count it or ask somebody else to do that. Then she gave her an engraved table cloth, and a piece of fabric.
The girl thanked from the bottom of her heart and when out with tears of joy.
Zheni Kostadinova graduated Philosophy at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. She has worked as an editor at the student TV show “Ku-Ku”, and as a reporter at the National Radio “Horizon”. For over 15 years she is a columnist at “Weekly Trud” newspaper writing about esoteric and psychology. In the same newspaper she is maintaining a page on literature. Zheni Kostadinova is the author of some of the most popular books written on Baba Vanga including “Baba Vanga The Prophetess”, “Baba Vanga Predictions”, “The Secret of Baba Vanga”. Her first book was translated into Russian, Polish, Latvian, Serbian, and Albanian. Zheni is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers. She had published three books of poetry: “Fire Sticks (2002), “17 love colors” (2007), and “Fig Jam” (2008). In 2012 Zheni has founded the art-house “Kuklite”. It is a doll gallery and a mini-museum located in the old downtown of Sofia. The gallery exhibits different dolls placed in specific categories. Besides the exhibitions, the art-house “Kuklite” also have the priority to work with children from the local schools, so they learn more about the traditions and customs of the different nations. The main idea is to transform the art-house “Kuklite” into a centre for cultural exchange, creative collaboration between representatives of different fields of art, science and philosophy. The art-house will hold meetings with interesting personalities, and will be a place of exhibitions, seminars, workshops, premieres of books and documentary movies, puppetry, and many other great events. The art-house “Kuklite” will also be a place where collectors can display their favourite artefacts and can share the history associated with them.
