The village of Asparuhovo is located in the Dalgopol Municipality.
The village of Asparuhovo is located 84 km. from Varna, 33 km. from the town of Provadiya and 48 km. from Karnobat. Bus connections with other cities are present. The railway station stands on the Sofia-Karlovo-Karnobat-Varna railroad with only passenger trains making stop there.
According to archaeological data, the village exists since VIII-IX century. Until the beginning of XX-th century it is called Ovchaga, named after the strong hold of the peasant leader Ivailo. Later the village is moved, but some of the oldest buildings become
an architectural and ethnographic complex .
The old school from the period of the Bulgarian Renaissance and the old stone church from 1857 are comletely moved from their former
locations on the bottom of the dam-lake.
Asparuhovo village, district Varna is situated at the north beginning of one of the straights of eastern Stara Planina- on the old road from Ovech to Anhialo , at the bank of Luda Kamchia river. In the past, that part of the mountain was known as Chengensky Balkan. The age old forest, the lush pastures and the fertile land at the river side were beneficial for stock breeding and agriculture and the tree castles around the village - Grada, Krustota and Monastery fortress have guarded the population in tumultuous times. The land hides remnants from ancient cultures , from traks, romans,bisantains., at the upper part of the village protobulgarian dwelling has been founded .To the East, between the rivers Eleshnica and Goat's river is situated the Priagradata, to the south alongside the Krivrica - Germeto. Both of them are embankments and ditches, which served to protect Pliska and Preslav from the Bisantain empire. The oldest name of the village is Ovchaga. It is mentioned for the first time by the Bisantain chronicler Manuil Fil, who caroled the heroism of the head commander of the bisantain troops Mihail Glava in his march against Ivailo. Ovchaga is a fortress, which fight during 1277 - 1279 on the side of the people's leader Ivailo. In 1388 the troops of Ali Pasha have passed trough the straights . According the legends among the local Turkish population, in the country side Orehovo a great battle has been led.. Many conquerors have been killed in it and since then the place was called " Janeri" - place of dead souls. From the word "Jenk", which means battles came and the second name of the village - Chenge. During an uprising in the North Bulgaria in 1409 the Bulgarians have captured the fortress, but the son of Sultan Baiazid - Musa, has conquered it back and ruined it in 1422. . Musa is famous in folklore songs as Musa Kesedji. Perhaps at that time , Chenge has definitely settled along the river. Talking about the preparation of the First Turnovo Uprising, the merchant from Dubrovnik Pavel Jorjich mentioned Chenge. In 1636 the polish Osviencim wrote about it: " Village situated half the way from Enikoi ( Dulgopol) , where the way to Tsarigrad trough the Balkan starts, as one of the way is very steep, and the other goes along the river Ichera ( Luda kamchia). " In 1640 Miaskovski , another polish diplomat is passing by - : " As I was passing trough the village , Bulgarian girls in fineries have cast barley and wheat in the carriage I was traveling with, wishing me good way. The peasants in the village did the same..". In 1651 the Turkish voyager Evelia Chelebi has passed by: " Chenge is a village at the fortress with the same name, situated at two hours from Novo selo( Dulgopol) It is a Bulgarian village, with 100 houses. Its residents are free from taxes-they aree dervendjii- guardians of the straights. From the time originate names of country sides - Deve bardan, Guardian, Slavery road. and the ruins of a great inn, which was serving the way. Due to the privileges as guardians of the straights, the inhabitants of Chenge have preserved their national spirit during the long ages of slavery. They have been suspected in participation in the movement of Filiki Eteria in 1821, they lost their right not to pay taxes. The Renaissance came here relatively late. In 1849 was built the cellar school and the first teacher in it was Dimitur Zlochesty, who left his autobiography in a manuscript. In 1857 the church " Sveta Petka " was built by masters from Ohrid.
In 1876 in the country side Trunliva Stoka was murdered one of the leaders of the April Uprising - Hristo Nikolov Patrev. In the battles for protecting the local population from robbers were killed the fighters from Chenge- Krai Kalcho and Delu. During the war for liberation, the village was attacked and robbed by cherkez.. According the local teacher Ilia Todorov , who wrote a monography "Chenge village", during the 19-th and the beginning of 20 -th centuries, migrants from change reinstated the Bulgarian outlook of a dozen of villages in Provadia and Aitos district.
At the beginning of the century the famous archeologist Karel Shkorpil came here. He mentioned , that all the inhabitants of Chenge look each other like brothers - all of them were dark, thinlegged and with developed cheek bones - probably they were far heirs of Asparuh Bulgarians. Because of that in 1934 the village was renamed as Asparuhovo. In the traditional spiritual culture of Asparuhovo there were signs, which distinguish it from the neighboring ancient villages - some of them have turk( protobulgarian) bases. E.g.- along with the first name Vulcho, very often Kurty and Kurta are met, also Tasho and Demir , who have turk origin. To the north, according the turk tradition are situated places with animal names - Wolf's hill, Bear's valley, Rabbit's pit, Relicts of totemism, which are met among the protobulgarians are in fact most of the family names in the village : Storks, Puchals, Swines, Azmans, Karamans. etc. The remnants of a cult towards the sun and from the mytologem "Twins" are numerous too, which are typical for the turks. Traces from the cultures of the traks and the slavs, who were the first inhabitants of these lands are clearly met. At the foundation of the Bulgarian state in 681, the slav tribe severs was accommodated to guard the straights of Eastern Stara planina mountain. The history , which was not so generous to this part of our country , try itself to keep Asparuhovo till nower days , in order to see in it the model of our existence trough the long 13 centuries. For last time the village has recently changed its place , when it was overflowed by the waters of a great dump and it retrieved at a higher place. The old houses and traditions left at the bottom below the surface , but the memories about the past are alive. Today at the bank of the dump , near the white stone renaissance church there is a small ethnographic reserve .The rituals and the ritual songs of Ovchaga - Chenge - Asparuhovo have many ancient characters, as one of them are showing very clearly the pagan origin and testify for the spiritual word of Bulgarians since the time of foundation of the Bulgarian state. The village has lived for a long time isolated, but according the tradition , the people's memory has delivered from generation to generation a rich system of rituals - both family and calendar. The conscious of common being was strengthen in addition by the fact, that the inhabitants of village were responsible as a team for the guarding of the straights. The legend says, that when a purse with gold from the sultan's treasure was lost, the whole population of the village - men, women and children went out to seek it. Asparuhovo is situated not far from Pliska and Preslav , where the beginning of our nation was laid down .We appreciate nowerdays the ritual , tradition and the songs of our ancestors - the most numerous from a single village, recorded till now.
Village Asparuhovo is one of the oldest in Varna district. Under the name of Ovchaga or Chenge, it was mentioned by the polish voyagers Otwinovsky( 1569) Miaskovsky ( 1640) etc. They are talking about its Bulgarian population and that it kept the slav rituals. The famous Turkish voyager Evlia Chelebi ( 17-th century) wrote in his notes, that the village Chenge is Bulgarian and has 100 houses. Its inhabitants were guardians of the straights, because of that they were free of paying taxes. This fact rose their self confidence and strengthen their freedom- loving spirit The spark of the Bulgarian Renaissance was lightened here in the firs half of the 19-th century. The inhabitants of the village considered the opportunity of opening a school, where their children will be able to learn to write and read in Bulgarian. The school was opened in 1851 and the first teacher in it was Dimitur Subev, who was born in Erkech. He was self-educated - he learned to write and read in church-slavic in Russia , where he lived several years after finishing the Russian- Turkish war from 1828 - 1829. He was teaching for 4 years- till 1855, and after wards, teacher became priest Kiro, born in Kotel. He was with a cellar education - he was able only to read and write. In 1856 teacher in Asparuhovo became Bogdan of Oraman, and in 1857 - Hadji Raly from Vardun. Later here teacher was Lasar Popgeorgiev from Smiadovo, Ivan from Sevlievo, , Atanas from Sliven, Vasil Stoianov from Jeravna. From 1863 to 1875 Vulko Dimitrov - son of the first teacher was teaching here .In 1876 for teacher was hired Hristo Nikolov from Shumen. In the spring of 1877 he was killed by the turks from the next village - Murna chiflik.The teacher in the village was hired from the elders in the village for a period of one year- from Dimitrovden to the next Dimitrovden. The teacher was paid in nature - one measure of wheat and daily food- in a row. After finishing of the year, if the teacher was approved, the elders told him not to leave the school and to continue his work. There was no argue. If the teacher lives the job before the end of the term, there was no payment for him. He was scrivener in the village and singer in the church at the same time. In the beginning the school was situated in private houses.. In 1855 a building especially for the purpose was constructed . It has two rooms - one of them for a class-room and the other for a church.. The windows were veneered with paper, there were no real desks, but 3-4 boards, laid down on stones. Above them there were cases with sand, in which pupils learn to write with fingers or sticks .The class room was heated from a fire -place, beside which there was a wooden place for sitting - minderluk, where was the place of the teacher .Normally each pupil brought with him every morning a wooden piece for heating the room. The class room was a living room for the teacher. The children were enlisted in the school at the age of 7 and more years .They were able to start their education at every time of the year. There were no classes and every one was going to school , until he was able to read and write. The number of the pupils was 20 and gradually it reached 50. The school year was continuing almost trough the whole year. There was breaks only at harvest time, tresh time and other important agricultural activities. The education lasted for a whole day, as the pupils were sleeping for a couple of hours at noon.. The education itself was performed in a most primitive manner. The teacher has wrote on a wooden board the alphabet to an every single pupil , he read it out and the pupils learned it by heart. They wrote on a sand .During 1865 a tables for writing and mutual-learning tables were introduced .During 1860 and 1870, when the struggle for an independent church was utmost furious, the pupils sang many patriotic songs:
"Look my dear brothers what is going on at the shoreAt the our holly church in Tzarigrad fener
The greek malice there is prevailing over our holly justice
Over our simple soul- over honesty!"
Another very popular song was " Viatur echi- Balkan stene"- today this epoch is already a history.