In Latin Maius is the month of the goddess Maya, daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury, the messenger of the Gods and God of trade, eloquence and cunning. People call the month of May “grassy”.

 

1 May

Holiday: Irminden (Eer-mihn-dehn) (Jeremiah) (Snake Day)

Old people call the first day of May Jeremiah (Irmin day) or Zamski den (Snake Day) and believe that whoever works in the fields on this day will be bitten by a snake in the summer. In the morning the women together with the children take tongs, pokers and tin boxes and go round the yard all day pounding them and making loud noises, chanting: “Go away snakes and lizards for today is Jeremiah! He will tie you with leather belts and will take your skin with a flint!” The women then go into the cellar, around the sheep pen, the stable and the stack-yard and believe that during the summer no snake will crawl nearby. They also perform a ritual for driving away the Dragon. People believe that sometimes a dragon comes to the village and stops the clouds and the rain and they need to drive it away. During nighttime several men, butt-naked and holding big cudgels, start poking and striking all around to drive away the hidden dragon. They travel the village from east to west and at the end jump in the river and bathe in running water so the rain can come to their village.

On Snake Day young men and women stamp pottery clay bare-footed. After that they go to the fields and pick wild garlic which will protect them from snake eyes and evil magic. People also plant cabbage and say: “Like snakes curl, so does cabbage”, so that it becomes tight and tasty. In some villages of the Rhodope Mountains Jeremiah Day is celebrated as protection against wolves. Hunters catch young wolves pups, take them to the village and people give them wool, flour, beans and small change.

 

2 May

Nameday: Boris, Borislav, Borislava
Remind me

The name Boris comes from the word bor (pine tree). In mythology the pine tree is the symbol of immortality for it was considered to be the body of the dead and resurrected God, who changes the seasons.

 

5 May

Nameday: Irin, Irina
Remind me

This name means peace.

 

6 May

Holiday: Gergiovden (gher-gyov-dehn) (St. George’s Day)
Nameday: Georgi, Gergana
Remind me

St. George's Day originates from an ancient pagan holiday connected with the breeding of sheep and goats and their first milking. Georgius comes from the Old Greek and means ‘farmer’. In Eastern Bulgaria, on the night before the holiday, young people go round the fields, dance three left horo dances, bathe in dew for health, and pick branches of pear trees and nettle leaves to decorate the doors of their houses, grain sheds, cellars, stables and pens. They light candles and drink up three gulps of silent water as medicine.
Women prepare several kinds of breads for this holiday – cross bread, shepherd’s bread, kolak and buns, and a special bun for Saint George made by the youngest bride in the house. It is round and on the surface there are cross-like figures made of dough with their ends turned up. In the middle of the cross a small ball of dough is placed, surrounded by a wreath. Between the arms of the cross there are four small buns and the cross is surrounded with an open fence – semicircle made of dough. The man of the house slaughters a young ewe after performing the ritual feeding and decorating it with a wreath made of mulberry-tree branches and nettle tied with a red thread. He then draws a cross on the children foreheads ising the blood of the ewe, in order to protect them against evil eyes and also for health. The bones of the ewe are buried in an anthill so the sheep cane become as many as the ants in it. After the ritual meal the whole village gathers in the square, where the young ones weigh themselves on scales, swing on see-saw swings for health and dance quick horo dances.

 

12 May

Holiday: German Gradushkar (Gher-man grad-ushker) (German the Hailman)

The hailmen in Bulgarian folklore are four in number, and the most important of them, German is celebrated on this day (from the ancient Thracian word germ meaning hot). On this day nobody works in the fields so there ae no hails throughout the summer. If someone dares to do that, people force him to stop, take his oxen out of the harness and break his cart into pieces. Old people tell the story that hail is produced by dead sinners. They take the ice from the Gods reserves, pile it in heaps and strike with it sinners on earth. One day German the Hailman sent a deaf old man to lead the hail and told him: “Lead it to a place you have not visited yesterday!” But the old man heard: "Lead it where you were yesterday!" That is why hail strikes where it has already fell before. People believe that the hail cloud is headed by an eagle and when they see such a cloud, they start shooting their guns at it to scare the eagle away so it takes the cloud some other place. If it starts hailing people take an axe and a knife and put them on the ground with the blade upwards to turn hail into rain. To stop the hail they also order a boy and a girl, a first or last child of two unrelated families to swallow simultaneously a grain of hail. This stops the hail and makes them siblings.

In the past on this day the young women made a little German the Hailman clay doll. They treat it like a dead man and perform all the required rituals over it. The doll is made to depict even the smallest details of the male body, as people believe it is a shame not to show things like that. They put the doll on a tile, decorate it with flowers and burry it after the lament. They must burry it by the river or at a crossroad – out of the village so that German the Hailman will never come again.

 

21 May

Holiday: St. St. Constantine and Helena
Nameday: Konstantin, Elena, Kostadin, Kostadinka
Remind me

This is the holiday of the nestinars (firedancers) in the Strandja Mountain region. There is an old legend about how the Bulgarians started dancing on live coals: Long time ago, when God walked among the people, he got tired one day of dealing with man’s deeds and thought of finding an assistant. He wondered how to test his fidelity. He made a big fire and summoned all unmarried young men. When the fire almost died out and turned into glowing embers God said: “Whoever goes into the fire with his bare feet, and dances on the embers, will become my assistant!” The young men looked at the live coals and didn’t dare to take off their shoes. But there was a brave man called Kostadin who stepped into the fire, danced on the live coals and nothing happened to him. God was glad that he found his assistant. A year passed by and Kostadin wanted to get married. God agreed and decided to give the same test to the eligible brides. A girl named Elena was the only one who dared to dance barefooted on the embers. God blessed Kostadin and Elena's marriage and decided this day to bear the name of the two.

On this day, people prepare wood for the fire starting very early in the morning. After the evening service boys holding icons and the nestinars go round the church three times and then stand by the spread embers, ready to start dancing. Bagpipes start playing and drums start beating fast and the nestinars step into the fire with their bare feet. The rhythm is bewitching, sacred, broken by the piercing "Oh-h-h" cries of the nestinars. The nestinars dance without feeling pain and without any damage to their feet although the temperature of the coals is around 800°C (1500 F). This is a true proof of supernatural forces to Bulgarians – we believe that the saint protects the dancers on this day. After the dance on the live coals the nestinars begin a horo dance round the fire and everybody must take part in it for health and prosperity.

 

24 May

Nameday: Kiril, Metodi
Remind me

Although the day of the Saints Cyril and Methodius is on 11 May, under the influence of the day of Slavic writing and culture, people celebrate on this day. From Old Greek: Cyril – ‘lordly’, and Methodius – ‘one who studies, follows a method’.

 

28 May

Holiday: Spasovden (spas-off-dehn) (St. Spass’ Day) (Ascension)
Nameday: Spas, Spaska
Remind me

This day of St. Spass is a big and bright holiday for he was a great healer of all living things. If it rains on this day, the rain is called golden because it makes the grass and the herbs, the trees and the fields stronger. On the evening before this day, if a man is ill, he takes a green cup or a green pitcher, wraps it in a new white towel, puts bread and boiled chicken in his lap and goes out to sleep in the open. In the morning, when the dew covers him, it is believed that fairies come and cure all his ilnesses. These fairies are sent by St. Spass. In the morning the no longer sick person leaves a present for them in the meadows where he slept – the food brought by him, an embroidered cloth, socks or a ribbed shirt. These gifts are usually found by shepherds when they take out the sheep early in the morning. They feast on them, take the presents and say a blessing for health. These blessings are belived to come true.

On the morning of St. Spass’ Day people greet each other for the last time with “Christ has risen!”, dye red eggs again and give them to the neighbors. They also visit the graveyard where they leave the red eggs at the graves and bring walnut-tree leaves to keep shade to the deceased. Then they pour water on them because on this day the planks of the coffins of the dead are burning and they need to put out the fire. After that everyone gathers in the square and they dance the horo to songs as the first horo is always started to the left – to remember the deceased so they may help the living ones.

 

29 May

Holiday: Zadoushnitsa (zah-doo-shnizza) (All Souls’ Day)
Nameday: Teodosy, Teodosia
Remind me

These names mean given by God. This All Souls’ Day is the second of all three in the Bulgarian folk calendar. The first one is on the Saturday before Mesni Zagovezni (14 February) and the third one is on the Saturday before Michaelmas (6 November).
On this day people visit the graveyard and pour wine, light candles, give out food, and leave walnut-tree leaves on the graves as on St. Spas’ Day.

 

30 May

Holiday: Petdesetnitza (pet-dess-ethnitsa) (Pentecost/Whitsunday)
Nameday: Emil, Emilia
Remind me

This day is celebrated in honor of the family. After church people go round the fields carying icons and gonfalons to protect the crops from hail and fire.
The name Emil means talk meanliglessly, ildly in Latin.

 

31 May

Holiday: Douhovden (doo-hov-dehn) (Spirits’ Day)

Bulgarians believe that from Sweet Thursday until Holy Ghost day the souls of the dead run free on earth. They stay in the flowers and trees and people tempt them with leaves of walnut-tree to get them together on this day. On Spirits’ Day the souls are brought home and kept locked until Sweet Thursday next year, when the doors of heaven open. Spirits’ Day is always on Monday – 51 days after Easter, and the whole week is called Mermaid Week. Until Holy Ghost day people don’t burn vine branches not to make the mermaids angry who can make the grapes weak and small.