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.
In the Bulgarian folk tradition, the feasts of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday are related holidays. From Lazarus Saturday (Lazarovden in Bulgaria), girls prepare for the ritual kumichene, which is performed on the morning of Palm Sunday. A very old..
In April and May the visitors of the Strelcha Historical Museum will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the traditions connected with the Easter holiday cycle through the exhibition A Fine Easter, a Finer St. George’s Day . Easter..
Lazarus Saturday is widely known in Bulgaria as Lazarovden , celebrated by Orthodox Bulgarians on the day before Palm Sunday. The main rite is the lazaruvane - a traditional custom centred on themes of love and marriage. Girls over the age of 16,..
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