Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Today is Babinden!

Photo: BGNES, archive

Today is Babinden, Granny’s or Midwives’ Day, a popular feast day celebrating the elderly women who once helped women give birth.

The day, once marked on 21 January, old style, has lost many of its rituals of old, such as the bathing of the baby by the granny, a lavish meal for the young brides at the granny’s house. After pouring out water for the granny to wash her hands in, the women would gift her with shirts, stockings and cloth. The granny on her part would tie a red and white thread to the wrist of the child.

Babinden falls on 21 January, old style, the date which was declared a day of natal care, obstetricians and gynecologists in 1951. 



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Three days, six stages and over 7,000 participants – Koprivshtitsa brings together the best amateurs from Bulgaria

The heart and rhythm of the Bulgarian spirit – with these words we can metaphorically define the National Festival of Bulgarian Folklore. Traditionally, since the distant 1965, the event has been organized once every five years on the first weekend of..

published on 8/6/25 12:14 PM

A film tells the story of Munich-based Bulgarian ensemble ‘Lazarka’

The number of Bulgarian folk dance ensembles abroad is growing and, alongside Bulgarian schools, they are among the key centres that unite compatriots overseas and preserve their connection to their roots. Recently, some of these dance troupes returned..

published on 8/5/25 9:45 PM

The 'White Roses' Bulgarian folk choir from Pescara, Italy, is performing in Bulgaria for the first time

A Bulgarian amateur folk choir based in Italy has returned to Bulgaria for its debut performance before a home audience.  Most members of the choir, named Beli Rozi (White Roses) , have lived in the southern Italian city of Pescara for over a decade...

published on 8/2/25 11:45 AM