In the Roman calendar Junius is a month dedicated to the goddess Junona, wife of Jupiter. The Bulgarians call this month “red” and believe that like June like December.

 

31 May - 6 June

Holiday: Rousalsa nedelya (roo-sal-ska ney-delya) (Midsummer Week)

The week after Whitsunday is called Rousalska nedelya (Mermaid Week). It is believed that until the day of the Holy Ghost the mermaids have achieved their goal – they have planted the seeds of fertility. Bulgarians decorate their houses with wormwood. The young girls wear wormwood on their chest, young men put it in their left pocket, and children wear it around their necks in a small cotton bag, like an amulet. In this way people protect themselves against the mischief of the mermaids. People never begin a journey on this day for they may lose their minds and then it will be only up to the mermaids to heal them.
The “rousalii” are a group of men ( always uneven number - 3, 5, 7, etc.) who go around the village during the week and grant people and nature the gift of health and fertility. They are welcomed everywhere. Their leader is called vataf and he is appointed by NASLEDSTVO. It is only the vataf who is allowed to pick healing herbs and only he knows the incantation that must be pronounced so the herbs can have healing powers. He can also magically transmit the force of nature to the chosen rousalii, called kalushari as well. The kalushari candidates are young married men, who are healthy and fast, don’t drink, are honest and goodhearted, and can keep secrets. They are not allowed to return to their homes for the whole Mermaid Week. Each one of them is subjected to a fast determined by the Vataf and when they are done with it they are consecrated by the leader and taught the secrets of the ritual. It is only then that the consecrated kalushar makes an oath before the flag and the other kalushars. The oath is very strange and the words are actually a curse: “Let no fire burn in my house, let no smoke pass through the chimney, let snakes and lizards make their nests in it, let owls lay their eggs in it. Let my wife see no cradle, let no ewe bleat, let us not hear the ox and the cow, the stallion and the mare, let no dog bark, let no rooster crow. Let weeds grow all over my house. Let me not see with my eyes and hear with my ears, let me not pronounce a word with my tongue, let me not walk with my feet and hold with my hands. Let everything get dry wherever I set foot, let everything I touch burn in fire. In front of me – the plague, behind me – cholera. Let my bones find no grave if I break the oath of the Kalusha.” After that, he kisses the flag and the Vataf sprinkles wonder water on him. The man kisses the hand of the leader and is then accepted as a kalushar and is allowed to carry the mermaid stick. The stick is very special. It is believed that the mermaid stick is like the scepter of the priest. It is made of sycamore, ash-tree or cornel tree. It is about 1.5m long (4 ft) and 2 cm thick (1 inch). It has a sharp metal point at its lower end and is decorated with bells, box-tree branches and colorful threads. In its upper end the Vataf makes a hole in which he puts herbs and closes it with a wedge. The sticks are kept by the leader and given to the kalushars only during the Mermaid Week. The stick is preserved, treated as a precious treasure and inherited. Another piece of equipment that the Vataf carries is a flag that no one else can have. It is made by the leader himself from white linen. It is about 2.5 ???cubits long and it has miraculous herbs sawn in at its four ends. It is also sprinkled with silent water. It must be created in front of all kalushars while mermaid music is played on the background. It has a bunch of herbs – meliot, gentian, hellebore, iris, wormwood, dittany and three bulbs of garlic. When the flag is prepared, all kalushars bow before it, the leader kisses the flag and the kalushars kiss the stick.
The kalushars wear white woolen socks on their feet, decorated with herbs. They have iron bells sown to their dress which make a lot of noise when they perform the ritual dances. They have wreaths of herbs on their fur caps. The kalushars cannot dance without music so someone must be there to play. The preferred musical instrument is the shepherd’s pipe or a wooden pipe, replaced later by a bagpipe or zourna and a drum. The kalushar dances could be for prosperity or for health and they resemble the quick dance in the night after a wedding.
The rousalii can heal those suffering from mermaids' sickness caused by the witchcraft of the mermaids. When the group visits a sick person, the Vataf examines him and decides whether the sickness can be healed or not. Then he negotiates the price for healing with the family. When the price is set, he prepares a pot and a bowl. The pot must be new and made of clay, full of silent water and herbs selected by the Vataf, covered with a piece of cloth of the sick person. It contains vinegar with water and crushed garlic. It is placed on a small round table, covered with a white tablecloth. The sick man is brought in by his relatives in a woven rug, which is spread on the ground before the kalushars. They stand in a circle, arranged by seniority. The oldest and the youngest one close the circle round the sick man. They start dancing and at first their dance is slow but gradually it gets faster. The tempo is dictated by the Vataf by raising and lowering the flag. After dancing for some time, they pick the ends of the rug with the sick man and throw him in the air, crying “Hey, Kalusha!” Then they step back. The Vataf enters the circle of the kalushars, goes to the sick man and rubs him with the mixture from the bowl on the forehead, the hands, the legs and chants in a low voice and only incidental phrases can be heard. Then the leader puts down the flag over the sick man, blows in four directions, gives him to drink three times from the bowl and steps back. The kalushari start dancing again as this time they jump over the sick man. Then on a sign from the Vataf the oldest kalushar in the band, who dances first, strikes with his stick the pot with the water and the herbs and it sprinkles everybody. At this moment the sick man gets up and runs away – he is completely healed. Few kalushars (three at the most, depending how bad the sickness is) fall on the ground like dead. They receive the sickness symbolically. Then they are treated in the same way – with a dance but in the opposite direction. The Vataf makes them drink from the bowl as well. Two men from the band pick them up in their arms while they recover and join the dance.
The kalushars visit the houses from Monday till Sunday noon. After that they hand their sticks to the Vataf who takes them home dancing on the way. The kalushars kiss the leader’s hand, each one of them takes off the herbal wreath from his cap, takes off the socks and the rousalia ends with a meal for all.

 

7 June

Nameday: Valery, Valeria
Remind me

The name comes from the old Latin family name Valerius meaning ‘I am strong’

 

11 June

Holiday: Vartolomeevden (var-toe-low-maev-dehn) (St. Bartholomew’s Day)

People celebrate St. Bartholomew as the second of the hail men – the brothers German, Bartholomew, Lise and Vido. People respect this day so there is no hail during the summer and there are no snow storms during the winter. Old Bulgarians say that on this day the sun turns towards winter. That is why they get up very early, before dawn, so when the sun comes above the Sea it shines on them first so they can be healthy and strong until the next St. Bartholomew’s Day.

 

14 June

Holiday: Liseevden (lee-say-f-den) (Lise’s Day)

According to a popular belief, Lise is one of the three brothers hailmen. He is the lord of the black hail clouds in the summer and the snow storms in the winter. Old people celebrate this day for the disease liso (baldness). For that reason the young fellows make bald breads, light candles, collect herbs, pour herbal teas on themselves and bathe in left water (at a left turn of the river). The tea is also poured through the left sleeve of a coat. By doing this they are guaranteed that their hair will become curly and will never fall out.

 

15 June

Holiday: Vidovden (vid-off-den) (Vido’s Day)

On this day Bulgarians celebrate another one of the three brothers hailmen – Vido. In order to celebrate, one must have participated in celebrating the days of the other brothers as well. People believe that Vido punishes the sinners. There is an old saying "Vido’s Day will come!" meaning 'One day you'll see'.

 

24 June

Holiday: Enyovden (enyov-den) (Enyo’s Day) (Midsummer Day)
Nameday: Yanko, Yanka
Remind me

This ancient Bulgarian ritual is a basic turning point in the mythological calendar of the ancient peoples, connected with the summer equinox when the day is longest and the night is shortest. Enyovden is a favorite summer holiday for young and old. It divides the year in half - after this day, winter sets on its long way to us. People get up early on that day to see how the sun “turns three times” and whoever bathes in dew that day knows that they will be safe from illnesses until the next Midsummer's Day.
Long time ago, in a village, two young – Enyo and Stana were very much in love. A day did not pass without them thinking of each other and every day that they didn't see each other was grey and even the bread did not taste well. The girl’s father had somebody else in mind and had arranged an engagement for Stana in another village. One day the matchmakers came to take Stana. She went with them but when they reached the big bridge over the Tundzha river, she pulled down the bridal veil and threw herself into the river. Founding out what happened, Enyo fell ill with sorrow. He stayed in bed for nine years - nine beds failed apart rotten under him. Nine years there was not a single drop of rain in the village. The river dried up and death struck people and animals. On the tenth year Enyo’s sister took the fore beam from the loom, put the rolling-pin crosswise and wrapped it with a baby bundle. Then she dressed it in women’s clothes, covered it with a white veil and went to Enyo. “Get up, Enyo, get up, brother,” she said, “to see your Stana has come to be your bride…” The poor man opened his eyes wide, a smile shone on his face, he raised from the bed with open arms but was too weak and died. Strong winds started blowing and and heavy rains started poring at that very moment and the fields grew green.
Since then there is a custom for the young girls to choose a bride on Enyovden and sing songs of wedding and prosperity. Then they sing over their rings to see what man will love them. The music and dances do not end until late that day.

 

29 June

Holiday: Petrovden (pet-rove-den) (St. Peter’s Day)
Nameday: Petar, Petrana and Kamen
Remind me

This is also a midsummer holiday. All people work hard in the fields. A legend of the Bulgarians in Tavria tells that Saint Peter saw how people harvest and took the sickle (SYRP) to help them.
The St. Peter fasts end with meat on the table – black chicken, slain on the threshold of the house for health and strength, for Peter means ‘stone’. People put juicy apples on the table, sanctified (OSVETENI) at the morning service in church.

 

30 June

Holiday: Pavliovden (pav-lyov-den) (St. Paul’s Day)
Nameday: Pavel, Pavlina
Remind me

There is no strict ban on work on St. Peter’s Day but on St. Paul’s Day people don’t work in order to protect themselves from fires. Nobody starts a fire on that day for any occasion and nobody bakes bread so that the wheat does not burn in the fields. The saying is: “On Peter’s Day you must harvest so that he does not blow the crops away. On Paul’s Day lie face down so that he does not burn the crops!” – “Little Paul makes big trouble!” (Paulus means ‘little’).
Butterfly is a folk ritual which has no fixed date. It is usually performed during the “Peter’s month”, when the weather is dry. Only young girls participate (about a dozen), dressed in shirts with green branches hanging from their belts (branches of elder, ivy or willow). The butterfly is a young girl (8–12 years old), an orphan or the last born in a family. The girl gets covered all over with greenery and she goes about the houses from noon until evening but never after dark. When she and the rest of the girls go into a house, they start singing: A butterfly flies, through the field it flies and prays to God: Give us, dear God, rain and rich crops, To have wheat and rye, For my mother to make small sweet buns, Give us, dear God, rich crops! The butterfly jumps, waves her hands and frolics around in a circle. The woman of the house takes out a bucket of water with a few drops of wine in it and pours it over the dancing butterfly. The girl sprinkles with it everybody for health, rain and fertility. Then the woman of the house gives the girls a sieve full of white flour, butter, cheese, eggs and sweets. The butterfly also gets small coins, some jewelry or a dress. On going out of the house the woman rolls the empty sieve and they guess on it whether the year will be good or bad.