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As early as 7000 years B.C., 3000 years before the Egyptians, traders from this land, now known as Bulgaria, had crossed up and down the Mediterranean. This long and winding history gave a source of not only great national pride but also an inspiration for a new national spirit. Much has perished through all these millennia, but even more has remained - a rich spiritual world which will shower you with the colours, rhythms and melodious songs of living Bulgarian folklore, the unfading beauty of Bulgarian arts and crafts, the gaiety and vivacity of Bulgarian festivals and customs, the piquant taste of Bulgarian cuisine and the delicate fragrance of Bulgarian wines.
Plovdiv region and the city, villages and towns therein, with its remnants of the Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman civilizations, count among their wealth an unusually diverse culture, parts of which have remained unchanged for centuries. In this section of Plovdiv Guide, we offer you a trip through the land which has been so richly endowed by God with elegant beauty and invite you to discover its traditions, customs and rituals.
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A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · All · |
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January . February . March . April . May . June . July . August . September . October . November . December |
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 | | The Feast of the Meeting of the Lord is among the most ancient feasts of the Christian Church. Forty days after His birth, the God-Infant was taken to the Jerusalem Temple, the center of the nation`s religious life. According to the Law of Moses, a woman who gave birth to a male child was forbidden to enter the Temple of God for forty days. At the end of this time the mother came to the Temple with the child, to offer a young lamb or pigeon to the Lord as a purification sacrifice. more > |
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 | | People perform the ritual of gathering all the combs inside the house, they bind them one to the other, and place them all in a corner of the house. People believe that way the wolves’ mouths are supposed to be tied up, and thus the cattle and the goods in the household are going to be preserved from wolves’ attacks.
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 | | Mesni Zagovezni (Meat Fasting Day) - celebrated 8 Sundays before Easter. After the All Souls` Day (Goliama Zadoushnitsa) yesterday, today all Bulgarians celebrate the Orthodox Church feast of Mesni Zagovezni - the last day people are allowed to eat meat before Easter, so the festive table contains only meat dishes. more > |
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| | Name day of Magda, Magdalena more > |
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 | | The traditional holidays called `Makaveyan Days` last for 12 days - from August 1st to August 12th. The Makaveyan Days are related to folk meteorology. Old people used to name those 12 days after the 12 months of the year, the first day being September, the second October, the third November, and so on - up to the twelfth, which is August again but in next year. That way, observing the weather day by day, people knew what the weather would be all the year ahead. more > |
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 | | Name day of everyone named Nestor. The day is honoured by women. They are forbidden to do any household work, otherwise mice would harm the house and the grain. They sew up the front and the back of their skirts – resembling the symbolical “sewing up” of the mice’s eyes. It is strictly forbidden to talk about mice. more > |
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 | | Name day of everyone named Mincho, Minka, Filip, Philip. That feastday is celebrated as a blood offering to appease the Mratinyak – according to the traditional beliefs, an evil black spirit, all in feathers, with huge green eyes, killing hens and roosters in the household. more > |
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 | | In some parts of the country they are also called “Karakondjo days” (Goblin Days). The folk myth tells the story that during these days the earth is visited by evil spirits – vampires, goblins and bugbears, who want to “lap the blood of the slaughtered pigs” and do evil to people. more > |
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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