Spring months mark one of the most charming time of the year to experience Bulgarian cultural and folklore traditions such as Martenitsas, Lazarovden, Tsvetnitsa and Easter Bulgarian Spring Holidays

The first of March and Martenitsa It’s a typically Bulgarian tradition. We all pin on our clothes some white and red figures usually hand made of sewing cotton. We do this for health, happiness and long live. We wear these “martenitsi” until we see a blossom tree or a stork and we put the martenitsa on the tree.

3rd March – National Day (Public Holiday) This is our national holiday. Bulgaria received its liberation on this date in 1878 from 500years of Ottoman Yoke with the intervention of the Russian Army.

8th March – International Women’s day This day is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Bulgaria. Women are honoured with greetings, flowers, small gifts. It is also celebrated as Mother’s Day.

16th April –Lazarovden It’s the holiday of the Youth. Always celebrated on the Saturday a week before Easter. Young girls (lazarki) dressed in colourful traditional costumes with wreaths of flowers in the hair, go from home to home and ask for blessing from elder people. People give them eggs as symbols of life.

17th April – Tsvetnitsa This is also the orthodox Palm Sunday. It comes a day after ‘’lazarovden” People decorate their houses with willow branches sanctified from local priests for health. Some people carrying the names of flowers have their name’s Day then, for example Tsvetan,Tsvetelina, Kalina, Malina, Kamelia.

24th April – Easter – Velikden As the Bulgarian name implies Velikden (great day), Easter is one of the most significant holidays in the Bulgarian calendar. The traditional Easter eggs should be prepared on Monday Thursday or on Saturday. Superstition does not allow the eggs to be painted on Good Friday. At midnight on Saturday, people will go to church. The priest will proclaim three times Christos voskrese (Christ has risen) and the congregation replies Vo istina voskrese (indeed he has risen). They then light a candle and return to their homes.

Easter eggs are of great symbolic importance– they represent the beginning of all life. According to tradition the first egg to be painted must be red (symbolic of the blood of Christ). The housewife can then rub the forehead and cheeks of the children for good health. This egg is then kept in the home next to an icon till the following Easter. A basket of eggs is essential on the dining table in every home over Easter along with special Easter bread – Kozunak – a sweet bread cake. Family, neighbours and friends greet each other and exchange eggs and kozunak. As the family gathers around the table each member selects an egg, which is then knocked together with the others to find the strongest egg that becomes a victor.

6th May Georgievden (Saint George’s Day) It’s the holiday of the army. It’s named after Saint George who is the patron of agriculture and farming. People don’t go to work on this day. We eat roast lamb (usually whole) then. Soldiers go on a parade and people watch them.

24th May and the Bulgarian alphabet It s the holiday of the Bulgarian culture. It commemorates the brothers Cyril and Methodius who have created our Cyrillic alphabet. Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ее Жж Зз Ии Йй Кк Лл Мм Нн Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Ъъ ь Юю Яя