ПРОГРАМИ
en de ru fr es sr gr al tr ro
Podcast in English
Share
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Bulgarians in Bessarabia keep the tradition of a special game with Easter eggs

Photo: Private archive

Games where the main character is the egg are probably not very many. In Germany, for example, on Easter, families visit the church, and then children look for eggs in the garden, hidden by the Easter bunny - a symbol of fertility. If we look for information, however, we will find a less popular tradition preserved in the territory of today's Bessarabia, where many ethnic Bulgarians live.

"All the eggs are placed on a line - one by each participant. Then, with a tennis ball, the participant tries to push an egg out of the frame in which they are enclosed. Each egg that comes out is a trophy for the one who hit it. The game took place in the street, and a bed of sand and earth was made for each egg, in which it could stand straight," the ethnographer from Moldova Galina Manolova told us.


"When I wrote about this game, I was sure that it still existed, and what was my surprise when it turned out that the game was completely lost! I found that it was known not only in my native village of Kairaklia, but also in the surrounding, mainly Bulgarian villages", clarifies Galina Manolova. "I was looking for materials to see if this is not a Moldovan, Ukrainian or Russian loanword, but this game is observed only among Bulgarians."

On Easter with the Bulgarians in Moldova, we have an interesting publication from the collection of Radio Bulgaria, in which you can hear the researcher's story about the almost forgotten Easter game of our compatriots in Bessarabia and her wish for more peace and light in our souls:

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.
Radio Bulgaria Life    Bessarabia Easter Easter eggs Moldova

More from category

Wooden bridge and a new park to connect people with nature in Ruse

Ruse now has the longest wooden pedestrian bridge in Bulgaria. The facility was opened at the end of 2024 in the Lipnik Forest Park. The bridge with a total length of 28 m is equipped with a glass railing and 7 glass windows, which..

published on 1/5/25 7:00 AM

Sofia celebrates 147th anniversary of liberation with historical re-enactment

The 147th anniversary of the liberation of Sofia from Ottoman rule was celebrated with a historical re-enactment in the capital's North Park. "The re-enactment recreates the three battles of the villages of Sarantsi, Dolni Bogrov and Vrazhdebna and..

published on 1/4/25 4:19 PM
Sofia Zoo director Dobromir Borislavov is particularly proud of the zoo lynx cubs.

Sofia Zoo boasts record number of newborns

The Sofia Zoo proudly announced a record number of animals born in 2024.   "Our wolf pack grew by nine wolf pups. We welcomed a baby zebra, kudu antelopes and several giraffe calves. We also had additions from the primates, the Asian small-clawed..

published on 1/4/25 1:50 PM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Partly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 15
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 7 | Max: 15
Cloudy
Min: 7 | Max: 14
Partly Cloudy
Min: -1 | Max: 16
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 3 | Max: 15
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 16
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 2 | Max: 15
Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 11
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 15
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 0 | Max: 14
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 2 | Max: 16
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 3 | Max: 15
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 1 | Max: 14
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 0 | Max: 12
Partly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 14
Mostly Cloudy
Min: -1 | Max: 15
Cloudy
Min: 6 | Max: 14
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 12
Cloudy
Min: 6 | Max: 11
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 7 | Max: 15
Partly Cloudy
Min: -1 | Max: 11
Partly Cloudy
Min: 0 | Max: 12
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 1 | Max: 16
Cloudy
Min: 5 | Max: 14
Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 14
Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 14
Cloudy
Min: 5 | Max: 14
BULGARIA IN PICTURES
Which world-famous Bulgarian artist designed QSL cards for Radio Bulgaria?
Yasen Gyuzelev
Theodore Ushev
Christo Javacheff - Christo
Ilia Peikov
Lika Yanko

BULGARIANS ABROAD

Български English Русский Deutsch Српски Français Ελληνικά Español Shqip Türkçe Română
MOST VIEWED

Bulgaria and Vincent Dupuy

"I started working as a teacher in France, but I was bored. I started looking around – where could I go as a history and geography teacher? A vacancy..

published on 1/29/25 1:30 PM

Circle of Life: How the Eastern Rhodopes became a model of a restored ecosystem

The Eastern Rhodopes are one of the few places in Europe where the balance of nature has been restored almost to the state it was in two centuries ago...

published on 1/30/25 1:13 PM

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

Общи условия за използване на сайта | Политика за поверителност | Политика за "бисквитки"