One of the
favorite holidays for the Bulgarians in the early spring is Sirni Zagovezni.
It is also called Sirnitza, Proshka, Pokladi, Kourkouvnitza, Olalia, etc.
In the calendar it is
always on Sunday – seven weeks before Easter.
The Sirni Zagovezni week is accompanied by many rituals to secure
fertility, prosperity, and health. On Tuesday and Thursday before
sunrise, and on Sunday at sunset young and old get together in the
square to dance quick horos.
In this way, through the ritual called “Gora” (forest)
people hope to stimulate earth, to make wheat grow high and cotton
buds burst. In the evening young people build fires, throw arrows and
swirl fiery hoops, with incantations for health, longevity, for
relatives and friends, for love: “Olalia, priest’s hat! Here’s, old
priest, the arrow, give me the young girl! I’ll give her a white
distaff so she gives me a white cradle!” Or: “Hey! The higher the
arrow flies the longer my father lives!” Before going home, the young
people “take pardon” from the elder folks.
After
that in each house the woman smokes the table with incense, the people
in the house "give each other pardon" and the man hangs a red thread
from the beam on the ceiling. On it the woman ties, consecutively, a
coal, a boiled egg and cheese, and turns it in a circle to the right.
The others try to take a bite at the respective symbol. The one who
catches the first will care for home, the second one will be lucky
throughout the year, the third one will live longest. Then they burn
the thread, naming and divining which harvest will be richest.
Sirni Zagovezni -
Shrove Sunday - was one of the best loved festivals coming at the
close
of winter. It always fell on the Sunday just seven weeks before
Easter, marking the beginning of the Great Lent, the longest period of
fasting throughout the year. In
its
way, the festival also served to mark the beginning of spring.
In olden days, most typical of Sirni Zagovezni was the building of
large bonfires in the hills surrounding towns and villages; either one
communal bonfire, or each of the individual neighbourhoods made their
own. The fires would be built in higher areas, for it was believed
that no hailstorm would strike the places lit up by them.
The Sirni
Sunday is rich with rituals. Before lunchtime the newly married go
visit their first witnesses and elder relatives - parents, brothers
and sisters, friends. They kiss their hand and ask forgiveness,
because in the evening when they sit on the table they should have
reconciled and taken forgiveness from their relatives. "Forgive me!" -
that is what the young people say when they bend to kiss the hand.
"May God forgive you, you are forgiven!" - the elder bless. In the
evening the whole household gathers around the table, full of fish
meals, cheese and eggs pastry, milk and of course white khalva. The
youngest members of the family are eager for start of the traditional
"hamkane" or "lamkane". They sit on the floor, making a circle. The
grandmother ties a piece of the khalva, a piece of cheese or of a
boiled egg with a red woollen thread. She ties the other end of the
thread to the ceiling beam or to her distaff. Then she swings the
khalva around the sitting children who keep their hands behind their
backs. Each of the children tries to bite the swinging titbit with its
mouth, which turns the ritual into a noisy and funny game. Then the
grandmother sets the thread on fire and by the way it burns she
predicts if the year to come will be fertile. The ashes from the burnt
woollen thread are kept as a remedy. After dinner the men go out into
the yard and shoot with rifles announcing the beginning of the Great
fast.
Young and old would
gather round the bonfire where they apologized to each other, to
forgive and forget the small wrongs and old quarrels in the name of
friendliness and understanding. Usually the younger ask the older for
forgiveness and are also asked to forgive on the part of their
parents, relatives, friends or just the people they live or work with.
The young men would jump over the fire "for health". It was believed
that the one who jumped farthest would be the first to get married
come autumn.
In some parts of the country the young men would fling
burning
wooden
arrows (rockets) with special devices made for the purpose. In
Strandja the lads carry big wicker baskets with burning straw in them
on pikes. That is why the tradition is also known as "Pali kosh" (burn
the basket). They have made in advance by themselves special kinds of
arrows made of hazel and cornel tees. The arrows are called "chavgi",
"chilki", "pernici" or "susamnici". They are shot away with the help
of a split hazel tree - "mashalgan". This was done from the
surrounding hilltops, for the arrows had to fall exactly in the yards
they were directed at. The preparations
for this festival are made by hand carving wooden rockets and laying
them out to dry for a week or two so they are tinder dry for the day.
This was really tough on the hands. These rockets would be launched
after being set alight from the bonfire once fixed onto launching
sticks. The "take off part" of the rocket is fixed to one stick and
beat against another projecting it up to 100 metres in the air and
over neighbouring houses. Just as each is launched, a name is shouted
out and that rocket subsequently dedicated to that person, family,
friend or lover.
The rockets are collected by the young Bulgarian maidens and
whoever collects the most will be deemed to be the fairest in the town
or village. The young male pilots of the rockets therefore usually aim
their rockets at their favoured maiden's home to make it easier for
them to find.
The training for this would start on January 18, the
Day of Saint Athanasius (Father of Orthodoxy). Each arrow was
dedicated to someone, be it father, mother, or sweetheart. It would be
mostly to young ladies who waited in the yards with pots full of water
at hand, for the arrows were a sign of love. The girl who collected
the largest number of arrows was considered to be the most beautiful
and desirable young lady in the village.
In
the past a special custom was being performed in the evening. A piece
of halvah was tied on a long thread, hanging from the ceiling (a
hard-boiled egg or some coal is an alternative). The thread is swayed
around in a circle and the participants keep on trying to catch the
lump in their mouth. The Bulgarian villages have preserved the
"Kukeri" ritual, in which the masked Kukeri dance in the last days of
the winter, just before nature comes back to life. The participants in
this ritual are male only, dressed in sheepskin garments and wearing
scary masks and chanove (copper bells) on their belts, dancing and
singing songs and chants, with the intention to scare away the evil
spirits or ghosts which people believed came back to the living ones
in winter.
The Koukeri ritual
on Shrove Sunday
Shrove Sunday (also known as the First Sunday before the
Lent) - is the day for forgiveness. According to Bulgarian traditions,
family members are giving each other their forgiveness during a family
dinner later that day. People use set phrases, such as “Forgive me,
mother, ..father, ..” and “Let all be forgiven to you,.. God forgives”
to ask and give their pardoning to their close ones. The popular
ritual of “hamkane” is performed that night – a peeled boiled egg, a
piece of halva or a coal is tied to a piece of thread hanging from a
long pole. Then the thread is moved around in large circles and
everyone around the feast table (especially the younger kids) is
trying to catch it with mouth only (no use of hands is allowed)…
The most typical tradition connected
to that day is starting the feast fires. Right from the very dawn, a
Koukeri band starts its walk around everybody’s home. By means of
various symbolic and ritual-magic actions, they are wishing health,
land fertility and prosperity to the hosts.
At Shrove Sunday, the spirit gets purged by the
forgiveness given and asked for, the body gets stronger if the person
manages to jump over the fire, and the nature sends away evil forces
by the ringing of the Koukeri bells. The dance of those masked men
brings blessing and land fertility. A Kouker young woman (also called
“bride”) starts ploughing the field and calls fertility, health and
good luck to come into people’s houses.
Another version
According to the
official church canon the period of the Easter fast continues for
seven weeks. Bulgarians call the first week of the fast "sirnica",
"Sirni Pokladi" or "Proshka" (forgiveness), because the Orthodox
religion allows the consumption of butter, cheese and eggs. The
consumption of meat stops the previous week known as Mesni (meat)
Zagovezni.
The Sirni Sunday is rich with rituals. Before lunchtime the newly
married go to visit their first witnesses and elder relatives -
parents, brothers and sisters, friends. They kiss their hand and ask
forgiveness, because in the evening when they sit on the table they
should have reconciled and taken forgiveness from their relatives.
"Forgive me!" - that is what the young people say when they bend to
kiss the hand. "May God forgive you, you are forgiven!" - the elder
bless.
In the evening
the whole household gathers around the table, full of fish meals,
cheese and eggs pastry, milk and of course white khalva. The youngest
members of the family are eager for start of the traditional "hamkane"
or "lamkane". They sit on the floor, making a circle. The grandmother
ties a piece of the khalva, a piece of cheese or of a boiled egg with
a red woollen thread. She ties the other end of the thread to the
ceiling beam or to her distaff. Then she swings the khalva around the
sitting children who keep their hands behind their backs. Each of the
children tries to bite the swinging titbit with its mouth, which turns
the ritual into a noisy and funny game. Then the grandmother sets the
thread on fire and by the way it burns she predicts if the year to
come will be fertile. The ashes from the burnt woollen thread are kept
as a remedy. After dinner the men go out into the yard and shoot with
rifles announcing the beginning of the Great fast.
Very important things in the
tradition are the putting on of big bonfires and the jumping over them
in which the main participants are the bachelors and the elder boys.
During the whole "sirna week" they gather branches and corn leaves
which they carry to the high places outside the village. They pile the
branches and the leaves around a high pike and they put the head of a
rooster that has been slaughtered during the Mesni (meat) Zagovezni on
top of the pike. The young people from different neighbourhoods
compete with each other and try to make the highest piles. In the
evening of the Sirna Sunday they set the bonfires on fire and they
have different names in the different parts of Bulgaria - "oratnici",
"olelii", "kurkovnici", "oidelelii" or "urbalki".
In Strandja the lads carry big wicker baskets with burning straw in
them on pikes. That is why the tradition is also known as "Pali kosh"
(burn the basket). They have made in advance by themselves special
kinds of arrows made of hazel and cornel tees. The arrows are called
"chavgi", "chilki", "pernici" or "susamnici". They are shot away with
the help of a split hazel tree - "mashalgan". The arrows are set on
fire and directed by the lads to the home of the lass they love. The
action is accompanied by phrases that sometimes get a little too
cynic: "If you, old man, don't give me the lass I will set your beard
on fire!" The bachelors and the boys jump over the fire and play
around it until the morning comes. This is done to protect the house
from fleas, the summer from rain and for a fertile year. In the
evening when the bonfires are burning everyone goes out to the square
for the last boys-and-girls horo. To make the hemp and the other crops
grow tall the people play the horo wildly and bouncy. Horos are not
allowed to play until Easter, during the Great fast.
Summary
Bulgarians celebrated on
Sunday "Sirni Zagovezni", a popular Orthodox Christian holiday, which
takes place seven weeks before Easter, and marks the beginning of the
longest period of fasting. According to the ancient Christian
tradition, on that day people beg each other forgiveness for their
wrong-doings during the year. Usually the younger ask the older for
forgiveness and are also asked to forgive on the part of their
parents, relatives, friends or just the people they live or work with.
In the past a special custom was being performed in the
evening. A piece of halva was tied on a long thread, hanging from the
ceiling (a hard-boiled egg or some coal is an alternative). The thread
is swayed around in a circle and the participants keep on trying to
catch the lump in their mouth.
The Bulgarian villages have preserved the "Kukeri"
ritual, in which the masked Kukeri dance in the last days of the
winter, just before nature is reborn. The participants in this ritual
are only men, dressed in sheepskin garments and wearing scary masks
and chanove (copper bells) attached to their belts, dancing and
singing songs, and chants, with the intention to scare away the evil
spirits or ghosts which people believed came back to the living ones
in winter.
Contrary to the Orthodox Christian tradition to celebrate
Sirni Zagovezni always on Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrates it on
Tuesday, 40 days prior to Easter.
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PEACE HAVENS of BULGARIA
