St. Lazar’s Day

Lazarovden in Bulgaria

The Orthodox Christian Church dedicates St. Lazar’s day to St. Lazar, whom Jesus Christ raised from the dead on the fourth day after his burial to show him his gratitude for his hospitability. Our people call the holiday “Lazar”, “Lazaritsa” or “Lazar’s Saturday”. It does not have a fixed date in the calendar. It is always on Saturday, a week before Easter. It is characterized with several particularly interesting and ancient in their origin maiden’s customs – “lazaruvane”, “kumichene” and “boenek”. Early in the morning on St. Lazar’s day the dancers (“lazarki”), clad in new and clean maidens’ national costumes, decorated with wreaths and fresh posies on their heads, in groups, start going round the houses of the village. All the time they sing holiday ritual songs and perform their ritual dance, most often called “boenek”.

Kukeri

Kukeri in Bulgaria

On 10th March is celebrated Mummer’s Day. From that day on during the whole week mummer’s dances are performed in south and east Bulgaria. The mummers – masked young men go round all the houses in the village to bring to the people health and fertility and the hosts give them plenty of gifts. At the end the mummers’ group symbolically starts ploughing and planting the “mummer’s filed” on the square in the middle of the village, thus they send the evil away and predestine welfare for the village and its inhabitants. The holiday ends with a mummer’s round dance on the square. The following days of the week the people consider as black days. Black Tuesday – also called dry Tuesday is thought to be the worst of all Tuesdays during the year. Mad Wednesday – they celebrate it in order to protect from madness. On scatter-brained Thursday the women should not roll yarn, should not work with yarn crutches in order to protect people from brain-scattering and giddiness. Black Friday is considered to be the worst of all 12 black Fridays throughout the year.

Veliko Tarnovo Folklore Festival

Veliko Tarnovo Folklore Festival will be held for the eleventh time in 2008. It is said to be one of the biggest on the Balcans, as it is a national event with world fame and unique atmosphere. In the previous years, since 2008, when was the first Folklore Festival it has hosted 5100 participants from 55 states of five continents. More than 300 concerts were held, not involving competition between the formations – they did it just for fun. This year the show will start with a splendid opening and closing ceremonies. From July 19 – August 02, 2008 Veliko Tarnovo will be a dancing city, devoted to bulgarian folklore traditions and world’s culture

Easter

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Easter. The date of this greatest and solemn Orthodox holiday is determined each year according to the moon calendar. Ester depends on when the first full moon after the day of the vernal equinox shall be. In gospel texts it is often mentioned that when alive Jesus Christ not once foretold his own crucifixion and his Resurrection after three days. And when on the third day after his burial Maria Magdalena goes with other women in his tomb in order to put fragrant oils on his body according to the ancient Judaic tradition, she finds out that the tomb is empty. Preparations for the holiday are carried on during the whole preceding week. Red Easter eggs are usually dyed on Holy Thursday or on Good Friday. With the first dyed in red egg the oldest woman of the household makes crosses on the foreheads of the children in order for them to be healthy and pink-cheeked during the year. This egg is placed in front of the home icon, in the chest with the maiden’s dowry or is buried in the middle of the field to protect it from hail. Easter is celebrated three days.

Martenitsa

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The month of March is called a “women’s month” in Bulgaria and its most prominent symbol is the “martenitsa” (twined tasseled red and white thread), symbolizing the awakening and the cult of the sun. This is the month of conception, of spring and earth, which will bear the summer and fertility. The white colour initially symbolized the men’s part, strength, light. The red is the women’s part, health, it is the sign of blood , conception and birth. We have to remember that the original women’s wedding dresses were red. The holiday is called Grandmother March and is celebrated on 1 March. The martenintsa is a charm against evil powers and decorating oneself with a martenitsa is a magical ritual act. The twined white and red woolen threads protect the person via the methods of the contact magic.

St. George’s Day / Gergiovden

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St. Georges Day /Gergiovden/ is one of the most important Christian holidays for the Bulgarians and it sets the beginning of a new working year. Nowadays it is celebrated as the shepherd’s day, because according to people’s notions St. George is the guardian of shepherds. In the national songs people sing for him with respect and love, and the saint is characterized as “good-looking”, “green” and “dear”. Early in the morning on the holiday women and children gather fresh flowers from the meadows and decorate with them the doors and windows of their houses. They drop in a copper coins and crane’s bill, in order the sheep to give milk. They gather dew from the grass and wash themselves with it. The owners go with a patterned ring-shaped cake to the sheep-pens and milk the first milk. All Bulgarian people named George celebrate this day. St. George is the guardian of the Bulgarian army. St. George’s Day /Gergiovden/ is their professional holiday.

Fire dancing / Nestinari custom

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Fire-dancing is a Bulgarian custom in which the main ritual element is dancing on fire. It is performed in several villages between the Strandzha Mountains and the Black Sea on the holiday of St. Konstantin and Elena. The whole village participates in the festival. But only the chosen – the fire-dancers /nestinari/ take part in the ritual dancing. They are considered to be chosen by the patron saint of the holiday, they can see him, they can “hear” his voice, his spirit inspires them, they become “possessed”, they can see with his eyes in the future, they can solve secrets, give advice, reproach. Fire-dancers can be men and women of different age, but of the same kin, and their skill is inherited by the daughters and sons. “Stolnina” of the fire-dancers is a small chapel in the house of the main woman fire-dancer. In the center of the icon-stand, which faces east, are placed the icons of St Konstantin and St. Elena, surrounded by the icons of the God’s Mother, St. George, St. Panteleymon, Holy Land patterns and red kerchiefs with a picture of the sun on them.