A Summary of Bulgarian Spring Holidays

The days are warm in Bulgaria.  This past week the temperatures have been in the mid-to-high 70s.  And the week before I was still using my heater occasionally when I felt chilled in the evenings and mornings.  It was a quick switch!

Here is a quick update on Bulgarian holidays - it’s a time rich in holidays :

Sat. April 27 – Lazarovden (Day of Lazar).  According to the Bulgarian tradition, Lazarovden is the day that marks the transition in maidens between a girl and a young woman fit to be married.   On this day, several groups of girls aged between 10 and 16 (“lazarki”), dressed in their best holiday clothes or wedding costumes adorned with wreaths and bunches of flowers go around the village. They visit each house and sing praises to everyone in the family, including children and the elderly, women and men, and Bulgarians of all professions.  The owners of each visited home gave them eggs and money.  Old sayings state that any house visited by lazarki will prosper throughout the year.

Sun. April 28 -  Bulgarian Orthodox Christians celebrate Palm Sunday - Tsventisa-Vrabnitsa, to mark the triumphal arrival of Christ into Jerusalem.   The Bulgarian tradition is to carry flowers and willow branches, rather than palm leaves, and the day is also regarded as the holiday of the fields, meadows and forests. It is one of the most important holy days, falling one week before Easter, and marking the beginning of the Passion of Christ.

Wed. May 1 – Labor Day, celebrates the efforts and accomplishments of those who work AND it marks the point in the year where people begin earning money for themselves after 4 months of earning money for the government – in the form of taxes.

Fri. May 3 – Bulgarian Orthodox Good Friday

Sat. May 4 - Bulgarian Orthodox Good Saturday

Sat. May 5 – Easter Sunday

Mon. May 6 – St. Georges Day. In Bulgaria St. George is the patron of spring verdure and fertility, and of shepherds and farmers. His Day, May 6, is believed to set in summer and the new farming cycle.   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.  A special place on the table is attributed to the ritual Gergyovden breed. All sorts of bread are made for the feast - the cross bread, the shepherd's bread, the large ring-bread, as well as small ones, or the special ring-shaped bun baked by the young wife in the house.

So this year many Bulgarians have a long holiday from May 1^st through the 6^th.