Current News

Current News

ARCHANGELSKA (GOLIAMA) ZADOUSHNITSA (Great All Souls’ Day) -

ARCHANGELSKA (GOLIAMA) ZADOUSHNITSA (Great All Souls’ Day) -

11/4/2023 9:00:00 AM

The Great All Souls’ Day (also called Michaelmas All Souls’ Day) is the first Saturday before Michaelmas. It is not only the last All Souls Day for the year, but also the largest one. Peopleare supposed to bring seven different meals for the treat at the graveyard – it is believed that this way they would hear the blessing of the dead during the coming Christmas fast.

Particular importance that day is given to the church ritual of smoking of incense. It is commonly believed that “the devil runs away from incense”. Candles are lighted on the graves of the dead, so that memory will not die in the soul of the living and the ashes of forgetfulness will not cover it. Water and wine are poured onto the grave. In the ancient Bulgarian commemoration tradition, the grave is considered to be a territory of the dead and a place where contact with the living ones could be achieved. The ritual pouring is a way of keeping the “life” in the dead person in the world beyond, by satisfying the dead person’s needs of food, wine and water.

Pouring wine onto the grave that day is usually done by the eldest woman present at the memorial service. She takes the vessel with wine and, starting from the place where the head of the deceased is supposed to be, she makes three circles to the left along the periphery of the grave. She makes the sign of the cross three times on the grave, and only then she breaks the ritual bread. Everyone gather round the meal, leaving an empty place for the deceased. Everybody puts the first bite on the ground and pours some of the wine, saying: “God bring peace to his soul!”

It is believed that at each memorial service, the soul eats to the full and the relatives try to prepare the dishes, which the dead person used to like best. In some villages people give new clothes to people who had participated in the burial as gifts. If during the memorial service a butterfly or a small fly flies over the meals, people believe the soul of the deceased is among them – visible yet untouchable.

In honour to the Day of Plovdiv
In honour to the Day of Plovdiv
9/6/2003 12:00:00 AM
In honour to the Day of Plovdiv, after a 12-year silence, the first Singing Fountains in Bulgaria were released, working again in its full glory. The very pond the fountains are placed in, is part ...
The celebrations of the Day of Plovdiv
Each city has a special Feast Day to celebrate, and Plovdiv is not exclusion to that rule ? the citizens of Plovdiv celebrate the Plovdiv Day each year on September 6th. Our city will be very beaut...
The Pamporovo Mountain Resort
The Pamporovo Mountain Resort
9/4/2003 12:00:00 AM
   Information about the resort based on the Pamporovo Info Centre:   Location: the Central Rhodopes   Altitude: 1650 m   Closest peak: Snezhanka Pe...
September ? the month of cultural events in Plovdiv
Based on a publication from the Culture Pages of the Maritsa newspaperThe first item of news is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great artist Zlatuy Boyadzhiev, which will...
Cultural Events in the Balabanov House in the Old Town
Based on a publication in the Maritsa newspaperYesterday the Plovdiv Mayor, Dr. Ivan Chomakov, opened the already traditional for Plovdiv National Autumn Painting Exhibition. The opening took p...
Exercise Cooperative Key 2003
Exercise Cooperative Key 2003
9/1/2003 12:00:00 AM
The Defence Ministry has set a 2.4 million leva budget for the international air force exercise Cooperative Key 2003 in September, Air Force HQ commander Gen. Dimiter Georgiev told the press Thursd...
Kazanluk (Southern Bulgaria) and UNESCO
Kazanluk (Southern Bulgaria),  - UNESCO is studying the Valley of Thracian Rulers project, UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura told BTA in response to a question. He is the first UNESCO ...
4.5 M Tourists to Visit Bulgaria in 2005
Bulgaria expects some 4.5 million foreign tourists in 2005, reads the Tourism Development Strategy, Deputy Minister of Economy Dimitar Hadjinikolov informed in Varna. US$2 million revenues to the f...
President Kwasniewski Cruised on a Warship
Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov cruised on a warship from the coastal city of Varna to Nessebar. The missile corvette 'Lightening&#...
Hundreds to Observe the Mars' Radiance
  The observation of the Great Alignment of Mars and the Earth with the 15-cm telescope in the planetarium in Smolyan town will start from today on. The doors of the biggest planetarium in this c...