Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova (; ; 3 October 1911 – 11 August 1996), commonly known as Baba Vanga (), was a Bulgarian mystic, clairvoyant and seer. Blind since her early childhood, she spent most of her life in the Rupite area of the Kozhuh mountains in Bulgaria.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, she was widely known in Eastern Europe for her alleged abilities of clairvoyance and precognition. After the fall of communism, she has remained popular.
Life
Vanga was born on 3 October 1911 to Pando Surchev and Paraskeva Surcheva in Strumica in the Salonica vilayet of the Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia). She was a premature baby who suffered from health complications. In accordance with local tradition, the baby was not given a name until she 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 Andromaha (Andromache), but this was rejected for being "too Greek" during a period of anti-Hellenic sentiment within Macedonian Bulgarian society. Another stranger's proposal was a Greek name, which was adapted to the Bulgarian version: Vangeliya. According to the Bucharest treaty (1913), Strumica was ceded to Bulgaria.
During her childhood, her father was an Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization activist in the pro-Bulgarian branch, who seemed to have a strong sense of local Macedonian identity. He was conscripted into the Bulgarian Army during World War I, while Vanga's mother died soon after. This left Vanga dependent on the care and charity of neighbours and close family friends for much of her youth. After the war, Strumica was ceded to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (i.e., Yugoslavia). Yugoslav authorities arrested her father because of his pro-Bulgarian activity. They confiscated all his property and the family fell into poverty for many years. Her father, being a widower, eventually remarried, thus providing a stepmother to his daughter.
In 1923, she and her father moved to Novo Selo. According to her own testimony, a turning point in her life occurred when a 'tornado' allegedly lifted her into the air and threw her into 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 taken to a school for the blind in the city of Zemun, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (now Serbia), where she spent three years and was taught to read Braille, play the piano, knit, cook, and clean. After the death of her stepmother, she returned home to take care of her younger siblings. The family lived in poverty.
In 1939, Vanga contracted pleurisy. The doctor's opinion was that she would die soon, but she quickly recovered.
During World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded and dismembered by the Axis powers and Strumica was annexed by 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 the place where they died. Bulgarian tzar Boris III had visited her too.
On 10 May 1942, Vanga married Dimitar Gushterov. Gusheterov, a Bulgarian soldier from the village of Krandzhilitsa near Petrich, had come to town seeking revenge for his brother's killing. Shortly before marriage, Dimitar and Vanga moved to Petrich, where she soon became well-known. Dimitar was then conscripted in the Bulgarian Army and was stationed in Northern Greece, which was annexed by Bulgaria at the time. Gushterov became ill, fell into alcoholism, and eventually died on 1 April 1962.
After World War II, the Bulgarian police and communist party tried to suppress Vanga's activities, but she continued to be visited by people. After police control and social pressure reduced in the 1960s, she was employed by the Petrich municipality and Institute of Suggestology (part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences). The former supported Vanga materially and took part of her income, while the latter tried to scientifically justify her activities. Members of the Politburo of the Bulgarian Communist Party and leading intellectuals also consulted her, including, reportedly, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Leonid Brezhnev. In the 1990s, a church was built in Rupite with money left by her visitors, which was consecrated on 14 October 1994. Vanga died on 11 August 1996 from breast cancer. Her funeral attracted large crowds.