Baba Vanga, Mikhail Fayn [best books to read for teens txt] 📗

Grandmother Vanga Baba Vanga in Bulgarian January 31st, 1911-August 11th, 1996, born Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova, known after her marriage as Vangelia Gushterova, was a blind Bulgarian mystic, clairvoyant, and herbalist, who spent most of her life in the Rupite area in the Kozhuh mountains in Bulgaria. Zheni Kostadinova claimed in 1997 that millions of people believed she possessed paranormal abilities. 

Life

Vanga was born in 1911 to Panda and Paraskeva (Surcheva) Surchev in Strumica, then in the Ottoman Empire, but in 1912 the city was ceded to Bulgaria. She was a premature baby who suffered from health complications. In accordance with local tradition, the baby was not given a name until it was deemed likely to survive. When the baby first cried out, a midwife went into the street and asked a stranger for a name. The stranger proposed Andromacha (Andromache), but this was rejected for being "too Greek"  during a period of anti-Hellenic sentiment within Bulgarian society. Another stranger's proposal was a Greek name, but popular with Bulgarians in the region: Vangelia (from Evangelos).

In her childhood, Vanglia was an ordinary child with brown eyes and blonde hair. Her father was an IMRO activist, conscripted into the Bulgarian Army during World War 1, and her mother died soon after. This left Vanga on the care and charity of neighbors and close family friends for much of her youth. After the war, Strumica emigrated from Bulgaria to Serbia. The Serbian authorities arrested the father, because of his pro-Bulgarian activity. They confiscated all his property and the family fell into poverty for many years. Vanga was considered intelligent for her age. Her inclinations started to show up when she herself thought out games and loved playing "healing"- she prescribed some herbs to her friends, who pretended to be ill. Her father, being a widower, eventually remarried, thus providing a stepmother to his daughter. 

According to her own testimony, a turning point in her life occured when a 'tornado' allegedly lifted her into the air and threw her in a nearby field. She was found after a long search. Witnesses described her as very frightened, and her eyes were covered with sand and dust, she was unable to open them because of the pain. There was money only for a partial operation to heal the injuries she had sustained. This resulted in a gradual loss of sight. 

In 1925 Vanga was brought to a school of the blind in the city of Zemun, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where she spent three years, and was taught to read Braille, play the piano, as well as do knitting, cooking, and cleaning. After the death of her stepmother she had to go back home to take care of her younger siblings. Her family was very poor, and she had to work all day.

In 1939 Vanga contracted pleurisy, although it remained largely inactive for some years. The doctor's opinion was that she would die soon, but she quickly recovered. 

During World War 2, Strumica was ceded to Bulgaria. At that time Vanga attracted believers in her ability to heal and soothsay- a number of people visited her, hoping to get a hint about whether their relatives were alive, or seeking for the place where they died. On April 8th, 1942 a Bulgarian tzar Boris The Third visited her. 

On May 10th, 1942 Vanga married Dimitar Gushterov, a Bulgarian soldier from the village of Krandzhilitsa near Petrich, who had come asking for the killers of his brother, but had to promise her not to seek revenge. Shortly before marriage, Dimitar and Vanga moved to Petrich, where she soon became well-known. Dimitar was then conscripted in the Bulgarian Army and had to spend some time in Northern Greece, which was annexed by Bulgaria at the time. He got another illness in 1947, fell into alcoholism, and eventually died on April 1st, 1962. 

She continued to be visited by dignitaries and commoners. After the Second World War, Bulgarian politicians and leaders from different Soviet Republics, including Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, sought her counsel; in the 1990's, a church was built was built in Rupite by Bogdan Tomalevski with money left by her visitors. Vanga died on August 11th, 1996 from breast cancer. Her funeral attracted large crowds, including many dignitaries.   

Publication Date: 05-15-2018

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Dedication:
This book is dedicated to the life and biography of Baba Vanga the Bulgarian prophetess between 1911-1996.