Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Nestinari dancing on live embers in Bulgari village

Photo: BGNES, archive

The day of Saints Constantine and Helena is marked today (3 June, old style) in the village of Bulgari in Mount Standzha, with traditional nestinari games. 

Saturday’s programme begins with a nestinari ritual early in the morning, and then from 1 PM until 7 PM the documentary “Footsteps in the fire” will be screened. There will be a photo exhibition of the nestinari ritual at the information centre in the village, followed by a folklore concert programme with the participation of ensemble Tsarevo from the Georgi Kondolov 1914 chitalishte (culture community club). 


The nestinari games proper will begin at 9.30 PM.  At 10 AM on the next day, June 4, there will be an icon procession.

Bulgari is one of few villages where the authentic nestinari tradition has been preserved to this day. Every year, the nestinari ritual of dancing on live embers comes to life in the village in the first days of June, to the sound of drums, as a way of honouring the patron saints of the village – Constantine and Helena.

Compiled by Veneta Nikolova

Photos: Facebook/selobulgari, BGNES



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Kiril Petkov resigns as co-chair of "We Continue the Change"

Kiril Petkov announced at a briefing that he is taking political responsibility and resigning as co-chair of "We Continue the Change" (part of the PP-DB coalition, which has the second largest number of MPs in the National Assembly)..

published on 6/25/25 3:59 PM

Bulgaria has a palette of advantages, little known to Japanese companies

A Japan-Bulgaria business forum on the topic of "Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization" was held in Sofia. "Bulgaria has a whole palette of advantages. However, they are little known in Japan. Our task is to provide much clearer..

published on 6/25/25 2:34 PM

Checks reveal drastic price increases in some retail outlets

During joint inspections by the National Revenue Agency, the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Commission for Consumer Protection, price increases of between 5 and 83% were found. The chair of the Commission for..

published on 6/25/25 1:20 PM