Thracian Megalithic Sanctuary "Skribina" near the village of Kribul, District of Gotse Delchev

The sanctuary in the area of Skribina, near the village of Kribul, district of Gotse Delchev is very much similar to "Gradishteto" as a structure and inherited traditional ritual practices. At that place there are not such mass archaeological finds as at "Gradishteto" (Pop Minchin kamak) - a few circular sunks in the neighborhood as well as not a large quantity of fragmented ancient pottery. The latter can be assigned to the lack of treasure-hunters' invasion and to the considerable erosion due to the steep slope. The arch is bored high into the natural rock. It is located in an oak grove, all of it strewn with abandoned clothes of ill people. It is accessed through wooden stairs with the same red threads hanging - measurements of the ill people's heights. The fire has its place in the rite - through scorching the ill person in a circle at the position - "up". It is carried out after his or her squeezing through the opening in the rock. It is followed by the abandonment of the old sick essence through taking off the old clothes at that place and effecting payment as a consideration for the health obtained. The latter is done through putting some petty cash onto the rock platform after the arch.

It is worth to note that the women's and mental diseases are believed to be cured there not by the stone but by the big black snake - the keeper of the holy place that calls in a ritual-magic manner the healer-woman having inside knowledge of the healing practices.

The ritual healing practices in Skribina are performed by the Bulgarian Mohammedans. A completely analogical rite, though not such well preserved has been sustained even nowadays by the Bulgarian Christians at the megalithic Thracian sanctuary of "St. Gergyova Skala" (The rock of St. George) near the village of Bachevo, district of Razlog. All these together with the unambiguous archaeological finds prove the genealogy of the rites traced to the Pre-Moslem and Pre-Christian ages and relate them to the Thracian antiquity. In a semantic and functional aspect they could be deduced from the rite of immortalization in Ancient Thrace. (Markov, V. Cultural Heritage and Succession. Heritage from the Ancient Heathen Holy Places in the Bulgarian Folklore Culture. Blagoevgrad: Neophyte Rilski University Press 2007).

Rock arch