Full of beauty, gaiety and a
healthy love of life, Bulgarian festivals and
customs date back to ancient times when man
tried to appease the natural elements and
trembled before their power . One of the merriest
and richest festivals in a ritual aspect are
Christmas and the New Year, when the so called
sourvakari make the round of houses
with wishes for health and prosperity. Other
major festivals include ladouvane - a
festive ritual for young girls on New Year's
Day or Midsummer Day (24 June); Shrovetide and
Mummers Games which originate
from the Dionysian festivals of the Thracians and
mark the start of spring; lazarouvane
- an Orthodox festival dedicated to love and the
family; Trifon Zarezan (Vinegrower's Day)
and St. George's Day, linked with health and
abundance. And among them, the widely popular and
typically Bulgarian customs and festivals -
martenitsas and rose-picking.
Couckeri
Every year on the 1st of March, the Bulgarians
give each other martenitsas - small
figures made of white and red threads, a symbol
of the awakening of spring, health and
happiness. In late May and early June every year,
the rose-picking season starts in the Valley of
Roses which stretches between the Balkan Range
and the Sredna Gora Mountains. Rose-picking
starts at dawn, before sunrise and before the
rose fragrance has had a chance to disappear. The
Bulgarian oleaginous rose yields 70 percent of
the world's attar of roses used by every
well known perfume company as an essential
component of its products. This is the time of
the Festival of Roses, celebrated with carnivals,
processions, folk songs and dances in Karlovo and
Kazanluk on the Sunday in June.
Full of beauty, gaiety and a
healthy love of life, Bulgarian festivals and
customs date back to ancient times when man
tried to appease the natural elements and
trembled before their power . One of the merriest
and richest festivals in a ritual aspect are
Christmas and the New Year, when the so called
sourvakari make the round of houses
with wishes for health and prosperity. Other
major festivals include ladouvane - a
festive ritual for young girls on New Year's
Day or Midsummer Day (24 June); Shrovetide and
Mummers Games which originate
from the Dionysian festivals of the Thracians and
mark the start of spring; lazarouvane
- an Orthodox festival dedicated to love and the
family; Trifon Zarezan (Vinegrower's Day)
and St. George's Day, linked with health and
abundance. And among them, the widely popular and
typically Bulgarian customs and festivals -
martenitsas and rose-picking.
Couckeri
Festival
of Roses