Today the Bulgarian Orthodox Church honours the memory of the Venerable Anthony the Great. Bulgarians call the day Antonovden. Anthony is considered the founder of Christian monasticism. According to Bulgarian popular tradition Antonovden is celebrated to protect people from illness. Women should not spin or knit on this day, nor should they cook beans or lentils so as not to anger the plague, pox or measles.
Folk tradition has it that Anthony and Athanasius were two twin brothers who were blacksmiths and were the first to invent the blacksmith's tongs.That is why Antonovden and the next one - Atanasovden, are celebrated as holidays of blacksmiths, ironmongers and knifemakers.
Today, Bulgaria celebrates the 140th anniversary of the Unification of the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. The center of the festivities is Plovdiv, where on this day in 1885, after the entry of the Golyamo Konare detachment into the..
In June 1878, after the 10 th Russo-Turkish war in a row, at the Berlin congress, the lands in the Balkans inhabited by Bulgarians were divided up into five. Northern Dobrudja was handed over to Romania. Serbia got the Sanjak of Niš. The lands..
The New Church Year begins on September 1. The month of September is the seventh month of the year according to the Jewish calendar. It is associated with a number of biblical events, which is why it was designated as the beginning of the Church New..
On October 14, the Bulgarian Orthodox church pays homage to Saint Paraskeva, also called St. Petka of Tarnovo and the day is known in Bulgaria as..
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