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ST. PROCOPIUS, the Bee-Keeper
Current News
Current News
ST. PROCOPIUS, the Bee-Keeper
7/8/2024 9:00:00 AM
Name day of everyone named Prokopi.
According to traditional beliefs, St. Procopius (in BG, St. Prokopi) is connected to the bee-keeping – hence his name. Early in the morning, bee-keepers’ wives bake two ritual loaves of bread so that bees would gather lots of honey. Before sunrise they take those loaves to the bee hives, burn incense and coat them in honey. Then they all go to the church service, carrying a bow of honey, which they leave for a night inside the church and take home the next day. That honey is believed to have unique healing abilities.
A ram is ritually slaughtered at a sacred place outside the village and then a large table is set for everybody to join. On this day every woman is supposed to makes a “grass bread” (a ritual bread with the image of a bee-hive). The popular concept is that the hive holds the bee family together and therefore this bread is given away only to relatives - to be healthy and to live long. No one is supposed to throw water among the bee-hives, especially “night water”. The story goes that once upon a time a woman, coming back from the fields, prepared the dough and kneaded it. She put it in the pan and threw it into the oven. While preparing the dinner, it became dark.
So she threw out the water from the trough right into the yard on the grass. They went to sleep and in the morning her hands became red, swollen and covered with white blisters. They took her to a medicine man and he said that she must have thrown out “night water” on the fairies and her hands will dry up. Everybody has remembered ever since that used water is never thrown out during the night. People put three coals in it and keep it at home until morning comes.
That day the Orthodox Church celebrates the Day of Holy Martyr Procopius, who died in great suffering for the Christian faith, being severely tortured by the order of the Emperor Diocletian in 303.
MAKAVEYAN DAYS - August 1-12
8/1/2024 9:00:00 AM
The traditional holidays called "Makaveyan Days" last for 12 days - from August 1st to August 12th.
ST. PANTELEYMON, the All-Merciful
7/27/2024 9:00:00 AM
Name day of everyone named Panteley, Dobra, Dobrin, Dobrina.T
St. Annas Summer Feastday (Dormition of the Mother of the Holy Virgin)
7/25/2024 10:00:00 AM
Name day of everyone named Anna, Yana, Enko.
St. Prophet Ilia (Ilinden)
7/20/2024 9:00:00 AM
St. Ilia is a Judaic prophet and a wandering hermit, who lived in the time of the Israeli king of Ahav and queen Iesavel.
That day back in 791 AD, Bulgarian Army led by Khan Kardam won the battle by the Markella Fortress
7/20/2024 8:00:00 AM
The name of Kardam is first encountered in the Byzantine sources in 791, when Emperor Constantine VI embarked on an expedition against Bulgaria
Celebrating the anniversary of Levski birth
7/18/2024 9:00:00 AM
Celebrations of the 177th anniversary of Levskis birth will open July 14th, by a long-distance race.
Orthodox Christianity celebrates the day of ST. MARINA on July 17
7/17/2024 9:00:00 AM
It is the name day of everyone named Marin, Marina
Dog Days
7/15/2024 9:00:00 AM
The Orthodox Church commemorates on July 15, 16, and 17 the Saint Martyrs Kirik and Julita, Atinogen and Marina.
July 7, 1550: Europeans Discover Chocolate
7/7/2024 8:00:00 AM
1550: Chocolate is introduced in Europe, and the Mexican drink creates a passion that endures after nearly half a millennium.
128 years of the bloody murder of Stefan Stambolov (January 31 1854 – July 6 1895)
7/6/2024 11:00:00 AM
Stambolov was born on January 31st, 1854, in the town of Veliko Turnovo. His ancestors originated from the small town of Tryavna.
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