For centuries, it’s been said that vampires live in Bulgaria. Everyone knows the Count Dracula stories from Romania and Translyvania. But there’s a lot of folklore in Bulgaria, too, of stories like those who marry people who turned out to be vampires and things like that.
I’m from a small village called Levagrad that lies at the foot of the Balkan Mountains. In my hometown, there are legends of a vampire who assumes the appearance of a young girl. We call her “Lamia.” Some say she’s more like a witch than a vampire because she can use magic.
Every spring, my village has a Lamia Feast. When night falls, the villagers all gather and set fire to a pile of dead branches as high as a mountain. Then, everyone dances around the flames. Young women wear black dresses, take random villagers in their arms, and pretend to suck their blood. The huge fire flickers throughout the whole village as if laughing. We light incense, pass around alcohol and hookahs. The villagers’ faces become red with heat. Their eyes mirror the flames and look like they are burning.
Vampires are the living dead. On the night of the feast, it’s said that the boundary between the living and dead dissolves, leaving the souls of the dead free to roam about the earth. The more merrily you sing and dance, the more likely others may think that you, too, might be someone who has died long ago.
At this banquet, there was a girl in a dress made from black crows’ feathers who was remarkably beautiful, but seemed remarkably sinister. She had glossy, jet-black eyes. Her white skin glistened like candlelight. Every time she leapt by the fire, sweat flew from her body and her long hair swung wildly in the air. The villagers were so mesmerized by her dance that they forgot to sing.
She was so alluring and mysterious that I heard someone say, “It’s Lamia.”
That was Itsumi.
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My older sister Ema had brought Itsumi to the banquet.
Though I say my older sister, actually we are twins. Our family is a poor one who had to scrimp and save just to send us to high school. In my village, it isn’t a rare sight to see children picking flowers or delivering vegetables to earn a small wage. I haven’t been able to work outside since the accident that paralyzed my left leg when I was young. But Ema also worked on plantations and took care of cows in her younger days, and after entering high school, she started working a part-time job at a travel agency that was an hour away by bus so she could help provide for our family. Unlike me, she doesn’t have any disabilities, and her bubbly personality made her quite popular in school. She told me she chose to work at the travel agency because one day she wanted to travel the world.
Levagrad is a tiny, tiny town, far from the capital, Sofia. It is located on the outskirts of Kazanlak, a town famous for its Rose Valley. But in my village, there aren’t really any tourist attractions. The only tourists that used to come to my village were usually just stopping by on their way to the Rose Valley. But once Ema started working at the travel agency, she proactively guided tourists to our village, and Levagrad has begun to prosper a little more.
After Ema started her part-time job, she began a homestay program for tourists that let them stay with local families in Levagrad. It was a huge success. Many travelers came all the way to Bulgaria, instead of going to more typical destinations like America or England, because they wanted to understand and experience the everyday life in my country. Ema’s plans to provide tourists with local lodging, to let them experience homemade Bulgarian cooking, and to show them around our neighborhood all ran smoothly. But sometimes, some tourists who were used to staying at hotels instead of local homes caused a bit of trouble. They were occasionally loud and rude, and left their homestays a mess. But the tourists from Japan were always tidy and polite, and therefore exceptionally popular with the locals. That was how Ema and I fell in love with Japan and its people.
Then, we received a request to host a high-school student from Japan for two weeks. Ema and I decided to let the student stay at our house because we were near her in age. This was how Itsumi came to stay with us.
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Even though the St. Mary’s teacher Mr. Hojo escorted Itsumi to Bulgaria, he was so busy with research and school visits that Ema and I were basically left in charge of her. We didn’t know much about Japan at the time, but were fascinated by the stories she told us about the little island. She told us of a country with cities built of towering skyscrapers, yet surrounded by abundant seas and nature. It was also a place where you can eat any cuisine in the world. I wanted to visit Japan with all of my heart. Ema and I also wanted Itsumi to love our country as much as we had come to love hers.
We took Itsumi to many scenic spots in Bulgaria: The majestic snow-capped Vitosha Mountains. The golden beaches of the Black Sea. The Danube River that feeds the land. The magnificent fresco paintings in the Rila Monastery. The Pirin National Park, where wild animals graze in the Pirin Mountains.
Bulgaria is not a wealthy country by any means; it is one of the weakest and poorest countries in the EU. But I am proud of Bulgaria because I know that it is the most beautiful country in all of Europe.