With welcoming the spring season comes the time for one of the most important holidays of the year, namely EASTER. On this holiday, the Christian religion celebrates the return of Jesus Christ to life on the third day after he was crucified and buried. Although it is celebrated worldwide, each country has its peculiarities in the celebration. The celebration of Easter holidays around the world has different customs according to folk beliefs and traditions. Eggs, Easter bread, and lamb are three main elements of the Easter festive table.
Let’s start with the Maundy Thursday.
Every year tradition dictates that the eggs be dyed on Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday before sunrise from the women in the family. The first egg should always be red and with it a cross is drawn on the children's foreheads. This colour symbolizes the blood of Christ. It is believed to be a symbol of health and luck in the family. There is a tradition that the egg is placed in a special place in the house - for example, in front of an icon. Some families break last year's egg; if it is not spoiled, the next year will be good. Egg-beating on Easter is a specific tradition for Bulgarians.
Good Friday
It is the time for spiritual purification. No work on this day. Believers go to church to bow before the shroud, symbolizing the cloth with which Jesus Christ was wrapped and buried, and pass under it for health, to purify themselves. Besides being one of the last days of the Easter fasts, it is the day of the strictest fasting - from Good Friday to Holy Saturday included - nothing is eaten or drunk.
On Holy Saturday (Soulful Saturday)
A solemn divine service is held on Holy Saturday. The church service starts at 11 pm and families and friends attend together, bringing Easter eggs with them. Exactly at midnight, they greet each other with the words "Christ is risen" and the answer is "Truly he is risen."
Priests bless the bread and eggs brought by the people. After that, the faithful walk around the church three times with lighted candles in their hands. The belief is that the candle of anyone who has been a good Christian does not go out, no matter how strong the wind blows. After the services are over, the most important and expected one, especially by the children, takes place - "egg fight" or "egg knocking".
EASTER
On Sunday morning, we go to church again for the solemn Easter liturgy, after which it is the turn of the festive table, around which the whole family gathers. On it, the ritual bread is first broken by the eldest in the house into as many pieces as there are people in the family, leaving a piece of bread for God as well. Children and adults beat each other with the coloured eggs, seeing whose egg will turn out to be the strongest. It is believed that the one whose egg turns out to be a "fighter" will be the healthiest during the year.
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