(St Demetrius? Feast day) ? October 26th.
In the traditional conceptions that day marks the beginning of winter. ?St George brings summer (celebrated on May 6th), St Demetrius brings winter (October 26th)?. It is believed that St Demetrius rides a red horse and the first snowflakes fall off his beard. First snow is expected shortly after that feast. According to the tradition, this day marks the end of the period for which seasonal workers - shepherds, cattle herds and farm hands have been hired. As a forerunner of winter, in popular beliefs St Demetrius is associated with the netherworld ? the world of the dead and of the forefathers. The so-called ?Dimitrovska Zadushnitsa? (All Souls? Day) is on the Saturday preceding the St Demetrius? Day. All people, named Dimiter, Dimitrina, Dimo are having name day celebrations.
So, apart from celebrating that popular feast, today (October 26th) is also the day of the national elections for mayors and municipal councillors. The main candidates, among the long list of numerous candidates, for Mayor of Plovdiv are the following:
1.The current mayor ? Dr. Ivan Chomakov, candidate of the Democratic Forces Union coalition.
2.Zachary Georgiev ? candidate of the Coalition for Plovdiv
3.Slavcho Atanassov ? candidate of the VMRO Coalition (?Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization?)
4.Nina Radeva ? candidate of the NDSV Party (?National Movement Simeon II?)
At the end of the Election Day, it turned out that more than 200 000 have not given their vote at all. Plovdiv has never witnessed such low voter participation. According to the records of 48 election sections, the actual votes for Dr Ivan Chomakov amounted to 34.98%, while the ones for the Dipl. Eng. Zachary Georgiev were 28.48%. Third in the row was Nina Radeva with the result of 9.58% of the votes, followed by Slavcho Atanassov with 8.16% of the votes. The Democratic Forces Union coalition has lost the majority of seats it had so far in the Municipal Council. There will be a run-off balloting of Dr Ivan Chomakov and Zachary Georgiev, scheduled for next Sunday, November 2nd.