FEATURE ARTICLE: CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS - BULGARIAN STYLE!

Christmas is one of the greatest holidays in Bulgaria, celebrated all over the country and is also a winter holiday that is connected with many rituals and traditions.

‘Ignajden’ (St. Ignatius’ Day) is considered to be the beginning of the Christmas holidays, but the most important day in this period is Christmas day itself. Following tradition, the holiday begins on December 20 and continues until December 27. Christmas in Bulgaria is called ‘Koleda’. ‘Koleduvane’ is an annual ritual where ‘Koledari’ (boys aged 8 to 12 or young men) of a village form a sort of Christmas committee and spread Christmas cheer around the village.

The ‘Koledari’ wear traditional festive holiday clothes – with beautifully decorated fur caps. At midnight on Christmas Eve, carol-singers start their rounds, visiting all the houses in the village. The carol-singers dress in traditional costumes and sing songs for the wealth and health of the hosts and the household, for which they are rewarded with money and food, later given to charity.

In times gone by the singers would carry long sticks called 'Rkoledaris', on which round bread with holes in known as 'kravai' were hung. This tradition may be still practiced to some extent in villages, although it is becoming a rare sight in the cities.

According to an old Bulgarian custom, on Christmas Eve there should be more than seven (always an odd number) of Lenten meals, with each dish symbolising the household’s hopes for luck, health and happiness during the forthcoming year. The most common dishes on the Christmas Eve dinner table are the round loaf, cabbage or vine leaves stuffed with rice, beans in a pot, stuffed peppers, pickles, pumpkin pie, banitsa, boiled wheat, stewed dried fruit, garlic, onion, honey, dried fruit, walnuts, apples, wine and traditional Bulgarian brandy – Rakia.

An important Christmas ritual involves hiding a coin inside the round loaf. The eldest member of the family then takes three pieces of bread and sets them aside - one piece for the Christ child, one for Mary and one for the household. They then break up the remainder of the bread and give a piece to everyone at the table. The person who finds the coin in his piece is expected to have good fortune in the next year. In some parts of Bulgaria, unmarried girls take their first piece of bread from the Christmas Eve meal and place it under their pillows, believing that they will then dream of their intended husband during the night.

There are walnuts for everyone in the family on the table; to predict what the year will bring. Everyone cracks one; if it is good and delicious, the year is going to be lucky; if the walnut is empty - you can expect a bad year! When the meal is over, the table is not cleared until the following morning. Some say it is to ensure that there will be plenty of food in the coming year.

Another spell for prosperity is made by the Yule log (badnyak), especially picked timber, being put into the fire and left to burn throughout the night on Christmas Eve. It is believed that this will bring luck and make people’s hopes a reality. A favourite children’s Christmas custom is that of ‘Sooroovachka’, or patting with a specially prepared branch of cornel (Bulgarian Dogwood) decorated with wool, cotton balls, strings of popcorn and dried peppers. With the patting stick, children pat their relatives and family friends, wishing them health, wealth, happiness and all the best. The person patted should give the child some small coins, as away of ‘buying’ success and luck for the coming year.

Whatever way you intend to celebrate Christmas this year, everyone at Zelnik Properties wishes you a happy one and a healthy and prosperous New Year.