On his designated day, St. Spas or the Holy Saviour unlocks the sky and the Earth to let the rain through so there may be bread throughout the year. The mythical hero is almost a twin brother to St. George. Just like him, he shoes his horse early in the morning, to make the rounds of the green boundaries of his fields and see the winter corn, coming into ear, as the ritual songs go. Every drop of rain that falls on St. Spas or Ascension Day is a piece of gold – the same is said of rain on St. George’s day. On the night before Ascension Day, impossible wishes come true. And this is the best time to offer prayers for health, for begetting a child, for a wedding… A time to perform rainmaking rituals and rituals invoking fertility or deliverance from incurable disease.
St. Spas or Ascension Day is a moveable feast. It falls on the seventh Thursday after Easter. That is when the Saviour, Jesus Christ ascended to the heavens to watch over men. In folklore tradition, it is forbidden to work on all Thursdays in the period from Easter until Ascension Day. On the day itself the woman of the house must touch nothing green because if she does there will be hailstorms in summer. It is forbidden to launder or hang clothes out to dry, otherwise there will be drought. It is believed that that is when God gathers the souls, let out on Maundy Thursday. Women would go to the cemetery and give out ritual loaves, milk and the first ripe cherries. They would take with them walnut tree leaves which they scattered over the graves. Legend has it that before departing for the yonder world, the dead must take food with them. And if their families have forgotten them they would take a handful of dirt, slip it under their bosom and only then depart.
Rossen, roxossan, selim – these are the traditional names of Dictamnus Albus or fraxinelle, a perennial herbaceous flowering plant. It can be found growing across almost the entire territory of Bulgaria and loves dry, rocky soil at an altitude below 1,200 meters. More often than not it is to be found where the soil is rich in limestone and grows up to one meter in height. It blossoms in June and its flowers are white, pink or red and are rich in essential oils; they say that in sunny and hot weather if you light a match and bring the flame close to the blossoms they will burst into flames. Black smoke rises but the plant itself remains untouched by the flames. The fraxinelle is poisonous but also has curative properties, just as mermaids have a dual nature – they can make a man sick but also cure him. It is said that the fraxinelle is the favourite flower of these fairytale creatures and they use it to make wreathes for their hair. Its fragrance intoxicates them and when they are happy they are merciful to humans. Throughout the year mermaids live at the end of the world and come to the world of men only once a year, in springtime when the blooming fields have to be besprinkled so there will be bread. They would come on Wednesday and start making wreaths out of fraxinelle and wormwood. And on Sunday they would use them to sprinkle the fields with water. Hence the name of this time of year – Roussalya from the Bulgarian for mermaid – roussalka.
Different healing practices are also widespread. The most popular among them to this day is to go for rossen – i.e. to go pick fraxinelle. It is believed that picking this herb at this precise moment helps the sick and the childless. Rolling in bedewed grass at sunrise is also thought to have the capacity to cure. People who would spend the night in fraxinelle fields must be accompanied by close, but unrelated friends. They take with them food and gifts for the mermaids which they leave in the morning – shirts, towels, stockings, wine, rakia, bread, roast chicken. People would lie down under the fraxinelle with a bowl of water close to their head. And if in the morning there was even a small part of the mermaid flower in the bowl that was a sure sign that the mythical creatures intended to cure them. According to popular belief, mermaids knew all herbs and could cure all diseases.
The whole of the St. Spas day week was a festive one, dedicated to bread and fertility. Patterned loaves would be baked, i.e. bread covered in different ornaments. But in St. Spas bread the decorations were not fixed as is the case with a number of other rituals but depended on the skills of the woman of the house. They were more like Assumption day bread used in baptisms, childbirth etc. The decorations were made using a spoon, a spindle or some other household instrument. And one more thing – the dough “rods” used to decorate ritual bread baked on other occasions are not employed here. To this day, St Spas day is celebrated as the day of bakers and confectioners.
English version: Milena Daynova
