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

Gabrovo joins European carnival cities

“The end is near – let’s go out with style!”  This is the motto of the 2026 Gabrovo Carnival, marking the start of the so-called fifth season of the year – the carnival season. The 11th day of the 11th month ushers in the carnival season..

published on 11/11/25 1:48 PM

Nina Vasileva-Zaneshev and her calling to inspire Bulgarians in Austria

Bulgarian compatriot Nina Vasileva-Zaneshev is one of the examples among the diaspora abroad, who give us confidence that wherever they are in the world, Bulgarian communities will not lose their connection with Bulgaria. Born in a..

published on 11/10/25 2:15 PM
Бял бряст

Two 200-year old trees granted protected status

Minister of the Environment and Water Manol Genov has granted two centuries-old trees – each of which approximately 200 years old – protected status, the ministry has announced. One of them, a European white elm (Ulmus laevis), is 24 metres tall..

published on 11/9/25 2:30 PM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Partly Cloudy
Min: 0 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 9 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 8 | Max: 17
Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 10
Partly Cloudy
Min: 1 | Max: 19
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 1 | Max: 18
Partly Cloudy
Min: 2 | Max: 17
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 2 | Max: 17
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 2 | Max: 18
Partly Cloudy
Min: -1 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 1 | Max: 19
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 2 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 1 | Max: 18
Partly Cloudy
Min: -1 | Max: 16
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 16
Partly Cloudy
Min: 0 | Max: 17
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 16
Cloudy
Min: 6 | Max: 13
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 5 | Max: 16
Partly Cloudy
Min: 0 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 0 | Max: 16
Partly Cloudy
Min: 1 | Max: 16
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 16
Partly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 18
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 16
Partly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 18
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

Balkan Developments

Italy investigates claims of hunting of people in Sarajevo in the 1990s The prosecutor's office in Milan has..

published on 11/14/25 4:35 PM

Bulgarian doctors conduct reproductive health checkups in Albania

Albania and Bulgaria have joined forces in the name of one more child being born. In the late afternoon of November 7, the first-ever free reproductive..

published on 11/14/25 11:02 AM

Ivo Ivanov from Radio Bulgaria is among the graduates of BNR's 11th Radio Journalism Master Class

The diplomas from the 11th master class in radio journalism of the Bulgarian National Radio – BNR Academy were awarded at a solemn ceremony on November..

published on 11/15/25 10:10 AM

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

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