BULGARIAN TRADITIONS

БАБА МАРТА

Perhaps the most important custom and the one that is very noticeable has to be 'Baba Marta' which occurs on the 1st march and concerns itself with the coming of the warm weather.

White and red tassles are exchanged to wish each other good health and happiness and are usually worn on the wrist and are not to be taken off until you are able see a stork or a blossoming tree.

The white represents the purity of snow and the red the setting of the sun and both signify the spirit of nature in relation to the male and female

In March, these amulets, worn around one's wrists and on their attire, can be seen almost everywhere in Bulgaria and in the neighboring regionsamulets Being a purely pagan ritual by origin, Baba Marta Day is one of the oldest, still existing traditions in Christian paganritual

ENYOVDEN

Enyovden (June 24) is a festival connected with the summer solstice. On Midsummer Day the sun is believed to end its journey towards summer and, after giving three jumps it turns towards winter.

There was a popular belief that the herbs gathered on the eve of Enyovden have stronger healing powers than those gathered on any other day of the year, so female herbalists and sorcerers roamed the woods and meadows that night to collect herbs.

According to the tradition, on Enyovden children and adults roll in dewy fields and have a bath in rivers and brooks in the woods. The women twine flowers and herbs into a wreath and everybody passes through it three times.

.It was also believed that the diseases in the world were seventy-seven and a half, and that there were cures for all 77 of them, but no cure for the remaining one half

Celebration in our school

Collecting the herbs known to them, the women would close their eyes and gropingly pick some spray which would be used throughout the year to hopefully cure the incurable disease.

St George's Day

St George's Day is celebrated by the several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint. St George's Day is celebrated on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George's death in AD 303Saint Georgepatron saint

For Eastern Orthodox Churches who use the Julian calendar, 23 April corresponds to 6 May on the civil calendar.Eastern Orthodox ChurchesJulian calendarcivil calendar

As Easter often falls close to St George's Day, the church celebration of the feast may be moved from 23 April. A common ritual is to prepare and eat a whole lamb, which is an ancient practice possibly related to Slavic pagan sacrificial traditions and the fact that St George is the patron saint of shepherds.lambSlavic pagan sacrificial traditionspatron saint

Mummers

On New Year's Eve and Zagovezni in Bulgaria special rituals called Mummer's games take place. The Mummer's games are performed by men only. They put on special masks hand-made by each of the participants.

Most of the masks are constructed by wood. Different colored threads are glued on it as well as pieces of multicolored fabrics, mirrors and other shiny elements.

. The masks representing a ram, a goat or a bull are considered the strangest. Their necessary part of the Mummer's games proves the thesis that the origin of the mummer's games is connected to the ancient Dionysius' games