Today, March 12, Bulgarians are celebrating Todorovden - a favorite church holiday, which is observed on the first Saturday of Lent.
Todorovden honors the memory of the Christian saint-warrior St. Theodore Tyrone, venerated as a great martyr by the Eastern Orthodox Church. On that day people with the names Todor, Theodore, Thea, Bozhidar, etc. celebrate their name day.
It is also called Todoritsa or Horse Easter, as the holiday is celebrated throughout the country with various rituals, but culminates in horse races or the so-called Kushya.
This holiday marks the border between winter and spring. It is said that after Todorovden, the day begins to grow and the weather gradually warms up. Tradition dictates that every horse owner should enter their horse in the horse races. The horses are decorated with wreaths of flowers for the kushia. And ritual breads for Todorovden are kneaded in the shape of a horseshoe or a horse and decorated with walnuts, corn and garlic.
You will learn more about the tradition and the songs associated with this unique Bulgarian holiday in this publication, which is part of Radio Bulgaria's collection of stories:
“Brave Todor shoeing his horse…”
Compiled by: Veneta Nikolova
When we have a special occasion where we meet relatives or friends, as a sign of respect and as a memory, we usually present them with a gift, complete with a beautiful card. In the past, the card received was kept as a cherished memory and even passed..
Holy Thursday is one of the two days in the Holy Week when we dye eggs for Easter. Tradition dictates that the oldest woman in the family takes on this important task, and the first egg is always dyed red. The Red Egg – symbol of the..
Today, the Bulgarian National Radio’s foreign language service Radio Bulgaria “speaks” 11 languages. Through the years, languages have been added, others have been dropped – something that happened to the Polish-language programmes. They were aired by..
Mostly Cloudy
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
sunshine, cloud, rain and thunder