Petar Danov (1864-1944) and The Danovisti
Every August, the Rila Mountains' Seven Lakes become a place of pilgrimage for the Danovisti (also known as the Byaloto Bratstvo or "White Brotherhood"), members of a sect which formed around the teachings of Bulgarian mystic Petar Danov at the start of the twentieth century. Combining Orthodox Christianity with meditation, sun-worship, vegetarianism and yoga, the sect was widely popular in Bulgaria before World War II and tolerated by both church and state until the Communist era, when it was obliged to go underground. Having re-emerged in the 1990s, Danovism is now regarded as yet another authentic manifestation of Bulgaria's rich spiritual culture which also embraces Orthodoxy, paganism, faith-healing and clairvoyancy. The son of an Orthodox priest from Varna, Danov studied theology in Boston, USA, returning to his homeland with a new-found enthusiasm for theosophy and spiritualism. He tried to weld the various religious and spiritual currents to which he had been exposed into a unified belief system, and after several years of solitary contemplation emerged with a book, The Seven Conversations , in 1900. In it he claimed that he had been appointed by God as His emissary on earth, entrusted with the task of building the "new culture of the sixth race". Precisely what Danov meant by the sixth race remains shrouded in verbose theorizing, but he essentially envisaged a higher level of human evolution in which man's spiritual nature would be more keenly developed - ushering in a new era of peace, love, justice and togetherness. Danov immediately embarked on a speaking tour of Bulgaria, gathering followers who formed the White Brotherhood - an informal association bound together by Danov's personal charisma. Danov was already a national figure by World War I, when he was briefly interned by the Bulgarian government for his pacifist ideals. Bulgaria's defeat in the war, and the years of political instability that followed, created an urban intelligentsia disillusioned by political ideologies, and they increasingly gravitated towards Danov's simple message of peace, unity and nature-worship. One of Danov's followers, Lyubomir Lalchev, was a close advisor to Tsar Boris III, leading to rumours that Danov himself exerted a Rasputin-like influence at court, though there's little evidence that he ever used this connection to do more than preach his message - indeed, throughout the interwar period, the only allies the Brotherhood cultivated were the Bulgarian Esperanto and Vegetarian societies. Danov saw himself as a teacher rather than a leader, and thousands came to hear him deliver lectures at 10am every morning outside his house at ul. Opalchenska 66 in central Sofia (Georgi Dimitrov, the future Communist leader, lived next door). In the 1930s he established a Danovist commune on the southeastern fringes of the capital, calling it Izgrev, or "Sunrise". He died in 1944, three months after the Communist takeover of Bulgaria, and was buried at Izgrev (with special permission from former neighbour Georgi Dimitrov, despite the danger that his grave might become a focus for anti-Communist pilgrimages). The Brotherhood itself was gradually harrassed into non-existence, and the commune was demolished in the 1980s to make room for the (then) Soviet Embassy, though the suburb that now occupies the site still bears its name. The Brotherhood reemerged after 1989 - although typically for post-Communist Bulgaria, two competing organizations claimed the Danovist mantle, leading to a protracted court battle that wasn't resolved until 1995. The tradition of holding annual meetings on and around August 19 (the date chosen by Danov as the divine world's New Year's Day) was soon reestablished, and on the week surrounding this date the Danovisti gather to camp by the shores of the Seven Lakes, worshipping the sun with pan-rhythmic dances. You may also encounter them at Christian/New Age pilgrimage sites like Krastova gora and Rupite
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