Facets of the Complex - Popularity Regions

The territory of nestinar ritualism cannot be easily delineated in the different villages, bearing in mind that all accounts (with some exceptions) were given after 1878. The fact that in the 1820s, during and after the Crimean War (1833-1856) and before the Bulgarian Liberation, big groups from Eastern Thrace and the interior of Strandzha migrated to Russia, Bessarabiya, Vlahiya, and the peripheral area of the Bulgarian lands, should not be ignored. The nestinars, who settled in the 1920s and 1930s in some villages where the ritual was familiar, came from the interior of Strandzha Mountain.

The Greek nestinars/anastenars (in Modern Greek) who migrated to the northern parts of Greece settled in compact groups in the villages of Agia Eleni, Langada, Mavrolevki and Limnohori. All the places mentioned are in the regions of Drama and Thessaloniki; and the ritual, secretly performed for a long time, was finally unveiled, though with some innovations. The nestinars' descendants, who for various reasons, live in other areas of Greece or abroad, always come back to the "thiasus" in their villages for the "panagyr" (the major holiday) held on St.St.Constantine and Helena's Day. Many of them also return for the ritual on St. Athanasius' Day in winter.

The Greek nestinars still call the region of interior Strandzha "Motherland". When given the opportunity, they come back to dance in their ancestors' lands, and see their "brothers" (the Bulgarian nestinars). Though they still remember the names of the villages from which their predecessors emigrated, now they cherish the idea of a common birthplace - the "Big Ayasma"; also known as "Vlahovo", "Odarchetata", "Pripor" or "Tripori". The ritual was popular in all the villages in the region regardless of their origin connection with the legendary settlement. On the Sunday preceding St. St. Constantine and Helena's day their inhabitants used to go to the "panagyr" held at the "Big Ayasma"(an "ayasma" = a holy spring). In 1931 they ceased performing dances on embers there. Instead they used the place for consecration ceremonies, drank holy water, brought offerings - bulls, sheep, rams. The lads and the young men participated in wrestling competitions. Then all of them would eat and drink together. In the afternoon they would go back to the village led by the nestinar procession. Each of the villages had its holy spring with a plank bed ("odarche") near it, and an appointed place for the common holiday dinner.

The legendary village is still the center of nestinar ritualism and an energy source for their overall view of life. Considered a major ritual and religious center, " The Big Ayasma" (Vlahovo) is inevitably present in the legends of the nestinar villages and is always called "homeland". It is considered to be the place where St.Constantine and St.Helena were found dead, where God chose his vicar on Earth, and where the deer came to clean the holy spring with its antlers, and after that to be offered. The first bull offering was performed there as well. "The Big Ayasma"(Vlahovo) has always been treated as the most sacred place in the region. The Bulgarian and Greek believe that there used to be an ancient settlement from which they started migrating. It should be emphasized that in the legend the worshippers were not divided ethnically into Greek and Bulgarian; on the contrary, because of their common place of origin, they were brothers. Their icons were also "brothers", because as the legend says, they were made of the wood of a same tree and drawn in a same place; three for the villagers of Bulgari, and three for the villagers of Kosti.

All who came into contact with the generations born before 1878 claimed that the nestinar villages were bilingual; i.e. the two languages spoken were Bulgarian and an archaic Greek dialect, incomprehensible to the Greek from the seaside towns. In the records it is also stated that nestinars' spouses were always from villages where the fire ritualism was familiar.