Demir Baba Teke

Outside view of Demir Baba Teke

Demir Baba (Full name: Hassan Demir Baba Pehlivan) / Iron Father / is by far the most revered saint among the Allian population of Northeastern Bulgaria. His grave is visited by numerous believers from all over the country and abroad. It is one of the places in Bulgaria, which are sacred to both Christians and Muslims. The “Tekke” and the “türbe” in Sboryanovo village, are visited throughout the year by believers who seek to heal of sore, implementation of cherished dreams or want to have a child. The grave of the saint is always laden with gifts, and the road to the tomb, surrounding trees, and rocks – with colorful rags.

The place where it was built at the beginning of the 17th century was the sanctuary of Demir Baba, which was sacred to the tribes and peoples inhabited by the region for more than 2000 years before its construction. Of the numerous buildings to this day, only the turbot (tomb) of the Allian saint Demir Baba survived. It is a UNESCO protected monument (one of the nine in Bulgaria).

Introduction signboard

The time when our group arrived there were dozens of Ethnic Turkish families were making barbeque with their traditional music playing on the speaker loudly in a small garden near the main road and it’s also not so far away from the Demir baba sanctuary, children were playing around and there were two or three stray dogs waiting for the leftover food. There is also an instruction map written in both Bulgarian and English and short description in some other languages.

The ancient Thracian city if Helis – the capital of the Getae.

The first thing we did is to visit the fortress of the ancient city site nearby where it was under the process of excavation. According to the research Helis was destroyed by a powerful earthquake so the whole city was in force to relocate its location to a different place, we saw the remains of the fortress of the wall and tower.

Fortress of Helis

It took us less than 5 minutes to come back to the initial spot and we turned the direction to a deep underneath of the shadowy hollow at the foot of Kamen Rid Plateau where we walked through lots of stairs and two sides of the road are covered with different objects, our tour guide told us not to touch them, as the locals believe they were: "for health". That is a very ancient tradition they have been practicing.

We also met people from different ages and I was surprised by their will and strength because it was quite a deep road.

When we entered into the courtyard we saw some interesting carved stones in the walls, there were 5 different stones with different patterns on it, the kind gentleman who takes care of the place told us that patterns have existed even before the temple.

A “Christian church” built on top of a pagan sanctuary but a Muslim temple.

We entered into the wooden house to have the general information, once I entered I soon realized the peculiarity of this religion believes. I smelt a similar smell as church buildings. The presentation has a wooden Orhodox church feeling to it, the style of the paintings look more like Catholics describing their beloved saints.

Demir Baba figure painted by local artist

The ceiling art of the temple

Before we enter the temple we asked the person if we are allowed to go inside or we need to cover the head as Muslims do, but the guardian told us: “everyone with all kinds of beliefs is welcomed here”, it was such a powerful statement and heartwarming.

The Tomb of Demir Baba

Outside style of the temple is more like a Christian church building, but there is a pure Islamic style decoration inside where they didn't paint any living thing on the wall, it was much humble place and in the inner chamber of the temple, there was the coffin-like tomb of Demir baba.

"Devil's eyes", one of the five curved stones

Before we leave we did very interesting rituals.Visitors are advised to put their fingers with closed eyes in the holes – into the eyes of Satan known as the Devil’s Eyes. The ones who succeed are believed to be pious, regardless of their religion.

Rituals are mixed with different religions and traditions. Both Christians and Muslims leave a token for health – an old pagan tradition. Orthodox Muslims pray to the saints and light candles in the vault and everybody hopes that the holy water in the spring will be beneficial for their health.

Thracian stone block

A piece of Thracian Era

The place itself has had an aura of holiness since very ancient times. Different religions leaving stratum after stratum there have given rise to an eclectic cult.

There are huge stone blocks of the sacrificial alter were built into the thick (1.2-1.5) walls of the tomb is one important part of the Thracian sanctuary where it became the foundation of the Temple of Demir baba afterwards.

To this day visitors come up on top of the stone block in the belief that they will acquire strength and good health, so did we.

Top of the hill

In the end, we left the temple from a small door which leads to a different direction, we climbed up through rocks this time and after we arrived at the top of the hill.

This has a similar meaning to the Thracian practice when after the rituals you climb up to come to the light. Like a snake shedding its old skin, we leave old selves and welcome the new ones.

From the top of the hill, we enjoyed a fantastic panorama.

That day, personally, I had this refreshing feeling deep down, I changed my prospectus about believes, the tomb of Demir Baba is one of the numerous examples across Bulgaria of tolerance and co-existence of different religions and beliefs. It mirrors a long tradition of understanding and dialogue among the people in this land.

If everyone could do the same as Alians, I think this world would be a much better place for people who had long suffered from religious dispute and conflicts.

All pictures have been taken by the author