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| Trifon Zarezan – The Day Of The Wine |
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FEBRUARY is the month when Bulgarians celebrate wine and its patron saint Trifon, also known as Trifon Zarezan. For vine-growers and wine-makers Trifon Zarezan has become so popular that it is celebrated both in accordance with the old and the new religious calendars. The new calendar emphasises the date of February 1, but over the past 15 years, February 14 has become the day of Trifon Zarezan. This provides the opportunity and excuse for many people to repeat it in less than two weeks. The fact that February 14 is also the day of St Valentine has made the date very popular because Bulgarians can choose whether to celebrate wine or love, or even both, on the same date.
The festivities on the day of Trifon Zarezan mark the dividing line between the ending of winter and the nearing of spring. The transition between the two seasons stirs the most fierce conflict in the annual natural cycle - it is the transition between the dead winter season and the invigorating powers of the following seasons. That is why, namely in this period, rituals are performed to strengthen and ensure a triumph of vitality and fruitfulness. The first pruning of the vines for the season is the main ritual performed on February 1st, when people gather in the vineyards outside the villages. Only the men can prune the vines, but women are not totally deprived of partaking in the holiday observation. Women get up early in the morning, bake festive bread - loaves decorated with dough vines and grapes, roast a hen stuffed with grits (baked ground corn kernels), and put these all and a flask of wine in a woolen bag and see the men to the gate. Women also knead special round loaves - a symbol of the fertile field, and generously hand them out to neighbours and relatives. Men first go to the holiday church service and then head to the vineyards, taking a musician with them.
Source: thesofiaecho.com
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| Tuesday, Jan 29, 2013 |
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| » RENTALS |
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| Apartment |
€ 350 |
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| Location: |
Veliko Tarnovo |
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