A Night of Rockets and Rocket Fuel in Skalitsa

It is the third night in a row where the partying is going on, but this time in the village of Skalitsa. Tonight is the night where homemade flaming rockets are propelled skywards and into neighbours property, all tradition at this time of the year in Bulgaria.

I attended this ceremony three years ago and there was more of a crowd then. The Bulgarian community in this part of the village has dwindled slightly caused from either death from old age or moves to the City. There used to be 10 Bulgarian families living full time in our village street, now there is only 5, such a shame that the trend is still this way. There are no families now that have a new generation living in the street. Another ten years and it could become completely empty of farm working Bulgarian.

The fact that there were only 5 families that took part in this evenings customs did not detract from the excitement that was felt. This was a special day in the small community, a day where the routine has something different about it. An hour out to have fun and uplift ourselves spiritually as spring will be upon us soon.

A Night of Rockets and Rocket Fuel in SkalitsaThe weeks before, we have been carving the wooden homemade rockets and they have been put out on a window ledge to dry out. The tails are made from slivers of the wood and this is the part that is set on fire.

I had donated an old Lada tyre as fuel for the bonfire that was needed as the centre piece on the side of the road outside. This was set on fire and a signal for us all to venture out with our rockets, a stick with a point end to fix the rocket on and a thicker stick in which to is hit against to propel the rocket, hopefully skywards. Cigarettes, wine, rakia and in my case a box of chocolates to pass around as it was my name day was still being celebrated.

A Night of Rockets and Rocket Fuel in SkalitsaThere was a great sense of a close knit community as the homemade rockets began to be knocked upwards, well most of them were, this was a hazardous activity, especially for beginner such as Galia who had never attended this village based tradition before. Blazing rockets on occasion would rush past your ear to the laughter of all who witnessed it.

The tradition is to call out a name and dedicate the rocket to a person you love and care for. Many names were called out as the rockets took off. A jug of wine and a bottle of homemade rakia was passed around, then the act of jumping over the fire which also traditional then fell upon us, Everyone had a go including the three Babas who were in attendance.

A Night of Rockets and Rocket Fuel in SkalitsaAfter the rockets had all taken off and landed and the Baba Olympics were completed, we were invited back to one of our neighbour's homes for a feast that had already been laid out for us. They knew it was my name day and had prepared this for me without us knowing about it. We couldn't refuse and another evening, the third night in a row of partying was on with rakia or rocket fuel as some have described it, continuing to freely flowing into our frailing bodies, this time with TV based Bulgarian music to accompany.

Today is also meant to the eve of longest fasting period of the year. In essence today was the last day you are meant to eat meat and drink alcohol until the arrival of Easter. That's some 50 days! This of course is a tradition that 99% of Bulgarians find hard to adhere to. I can't imagine any red blooded Bulgarian and a British expatriate with half Greek Cypriot blood in him abstaining from home produced meat of rakia for a couple of days let alone 50!

11 comments:

  1. Martin, that looks fun! More rocket fuel please!

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  2. Hi Martin,
    Sounds like it was a fun celebration!!!

    And happy belated name day!

    Have a great day,
    Sher :0)

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  3. Fasting has really become hard to do nowadays...It's nice to witness this kind of celebration huh ;)?!

    I remember while living in Holland, people there would go out and drink every night before the carnival. It is called the vastenavond.

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  4. Ah, so that's why there's been so much partying recently! It all sounds like good fun but probably very hangover-inducing!!

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  5. It would be a shame for these customs to die out. It sounds great fun.

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  6. Looks fun.
    So, will be fasting for 50 days then?

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  7. Martin I've just finished a run of night shifts so I'm a little late reading this, but it has really surprised me. It sounds wonderful, exciting and down right dangerous all rolled together in a compact snowball. Wonderful....what better way to bring your street or community together than this. Exciting....the kids must be firing these rockets off weeks before and days after, the night must be very special to them. Oh the joy of seeing your Baba leap over an open fire, the great woman, the symbol of Bulgaria before, a special moment that must instill respect into the younger hearts. Dangerous...just check through your post one more time, the photo says it all, dangerous. When the EU and it's laws finally get around to Bulgaria it will spoil it like England now. Enjoy the moment, Baba's don't leapt forever, best wishes.

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  8. Thank you all for your comments again, I get excited writign about it. Yes clebration indeed and all so innocent, clean and soul stirring it make you want to cry.

    Martyn - Get some rest I know what nights shifts are all about, I've been there.
    Dangerous makes it all the more exciting, but all folk here are sensible with no stress of tension in the air rebelious attention seeking youngsters.

    Like you say Martyn rules and regualtions will come into force now the EU has it's hands around Bulgaria's throat and will slowely strangle these traditions, home made rocket fuel as well! But not in our lifetime in this particular village! It is a very fortunate man that lives here, not many people know about what goes on here at village level. Lot's of stuff I have written a few years ago hasn't been published yet.

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  9. Hello Martin looks like to me that the Bulgarian folks are just like Thai folks , in fact just like folks everywhere , there nothing like a party, and if there is any occasion,name day , holy day , holiday or any day for that matter, it's party time in Thailand, and theres nothing I like better than fun , food and singing and dancing , and of course doing my famous ELVIS impersonation. Malcolm

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  10. Hi MArtin,

    You have been awarded the
    Uber Amazing Blog! award.

    Drop by when you have the time.

    Cheers!

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  11. What a great sounding festival.

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