Traditional holidays relating to Bulgarian everyday life
and culture (with Orthodox dates)
St. Basil’s Day (January 1/14)
St. Jordan’s Day (Theophany) (January 6/19)
St. John’s Day (January 7/20)
St. Anthony’s Day (January 17/30)
St. Atanassius's Day (January 18/31)
Martyr Triffon’s Day (January 1/14)
St. Theodore’s Day (February 14/27 – First Saturday of Lent)
Annunciation (March 25/April 7)
Saturday of Lazarus, Palm Sunday, Easter
St. George’s Day (May 6)
Sts.Constantine and Helen (May 21/June 3)
Midsummer Day (Nativity of St. John the Baptist) (June 24/July 7)
Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (St. Peter’s Day) (June 29/July 12)
Prophet St. Elija’s Day ( July 20/August 2)
Transfiguration (August 6/19)
Elevation of the Cross (September 14/27)
St. Petka’s Day (October 14/27)
St. Holy Martyr Dimitri of Thessaloniki’s Day (October 26/November
8)
Archangel Michael’s Day (November 8/21)
Holy Apostle Andrew’s Day (November 30/December 13)
St. Nicholas’s Day (December 6/19)
St. Ignatius’s Day (December 20/January 2)
Christmas Eve – (celebrated on the eve of the Nativity of our Lord – December
24/January 6)
Christmas (December 25/January 7)
New Year |
Customs
Sourvakars – Boys going from house to house, wishing
people a Happy New Year by slapping them ritually with an ornamented
twig for health and prosperity.
Martyr Triffon Zarezan (Pruner) – Vine-dresses’ day – first
pruning of the vines.
Saturday of Lazarus – Dancing to the accompaniment
of ritual songs for the Day – a ritual dedicated to the
fields, pastures, forests and young girls: Lazarki,
performed for health, happiness and fertility.
Rose day – Celebrates the start of rose-picking.
Nestinars – A ritual dance on live coal (fire
dancing).
Traditional folk fairs in Koprivshtitza, Shiroka Laka, Rozhen, Predela,
as well as numerous festivals across the country, dedicated to folklore,
and presenting authentic Bulgarian folklore. |
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Major folk festivals
International Folk Festival – Bourgas – in
the second half of August – annual.
Festival of the Rose – Kazanlak – in early
June – annual.
Folk festival in the town of Koprivshtitza – A
true holiday of Bulgarian folklore, at which singers and
musicians gather and perform authentic Bulgarian folk and
pop music – held every fifth year.
International festival of the Koukers (mummers) and masquerade games – held
every other year in the town of Pernik. It gathers dancers from all over
Bulgaria, performing kouker folk dances (mummers), observing the old custom
of the sourvakars for fertility. |
| Traces of Bulgarian traditions can be found in contemporary Bulgarian
art also — literature (fiction), pictorial arts, theatre, and
opera. |
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