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Name day of everyone named Varvara, Barbara.

In the Strandzha Mountain there is a saying: "Varvara boils, Sava (Sabbas) kneads, Nicholas treats the guests..." St. Varvara's Day sets the beginning of the winter holidays in Bulgaria. That day, the mistress of the house should bake small "buns" for the little boys and small "dolls" for the small girls. She boils wheat, corn and beans and gives them away to the neighbors for health and for the mercy of Grandmother Measles, so that the children are healthy. The day is also called "Women's Christmas" because only women and young girls take part in it. It is the name day of all women named Varvara. The English version of the Bulgarian name Varvara is Barbara, as the saint is popular in the Orthodox Church.

According to the legend, Saint Barbara was the extremely beautiful daughter of a wealthy pagan man, who lived near Nicodemia in Asia Minor. Because of her singular beauty, and fearful that she be demanded in marriage and taken away from him, the father jealously shut her up in a tower to protect her from the outside world.

Shortly before embarking on a journey, he commissioned a sumptuous bathhouse to be built for her, approving the design before he departed. Barbara had heard of the teachings of Christ, and while her father was gone spent much time in contemplation. From the windows of her tower she looked out upon the surrounding countryside and marveled at the growing things; the trees, the animals and the people. She decided that all these must be part of a master plan, and that the idols of wood and stone worshipped by her parents must be condemned as false. Gradually she came to accept the Christian faith. As her belief became firm, she directed that the builders redesign the bathhouse her father had planned, adding another window so that the three windows might symbolize the Holy Trinity.































































When her father returned, he was enraged at the changes and infuriated when Barbara acknowledged that she was a Christian. He dragged her before the governer of the province, who decreed that she be tortured and put to death by beheading. Her father himself carried out the death sentence. On his way home he was struck by lightening and his body consumed.

Saint Barbara lived and died about the year 300 A.D. She was venerated as early as the seventh century. The legend of the lightning bolt which struck down her persecutor caused her to be regarded as the patron saint in time of danger from thunderstorms, fires and sudden death. When gunpowder made its appearance in the Western world, Saint Barbara was invoked for aid against accidents resulting from explosions - since some of the earlier artillery pieces often blew up instead of firing their projectile - so, Saint Barbara became the patroness of the artillerymen.