A Bulgarian Easter 2009 - A Joyful Family Occasion

There are so many things to write about this last weekend I am really quite confused as to which should preside. Perhaps just a run of events might just fit the bill this time round.

A Bulgarian Easter 2009 - A Joyful Family OccasionIt was a sulky Lada that stood in the street last Friday as I mounted my bicycle to ride the 37 kilometres to the village farmhouse just to water the crops, get a rat trap and bring some gherkins seedlings back. The ride was fantastic, why I don’t ride more often it a complete mystery! Without Galia who was preparing for the Easter weekend it was a night on my own with howling wolves no longer scaring me as sat outside well beyond sunset before retiring to a rakia and well earned sleep.

The next morning, another bicycle ride, this time slightly faster than the day before back to Yambol. There is an increasing amount of traffic on the roads these days. Three years ago I could have travelled 20 kilometres and not passed any cars, maybe an occasional horse and cart. Now every few minutes a car zooms past, it is quite a depressing thought that this will get worse as each year goes by.

Many of these vehicles are 4x4 motors and of these many are expats or Brits on holiday here right now. The only problem I had with traffic today on the bike was the inconsideration of a Brit driver that came too close causing me to have to swerve into the grass verge. What I normally do in these cases is spit on their car window screen as they go past, it make me feel better that a message has been delivered. It may sound disgusting, but for me their total disregard and inconsideration for me is far more disgusting – A worse thought was that they must have thought it was only a Bulgarian cyclist.

That aside I got back to Yambol safely and the gherkins and rat trap intact. Oh yes, the rattrap is for a rat that ran across my feet as I entered the garage for my bike the day before. It had been eating our stock of winter potatoes. The trap is now set and we hope to drown it at some point in the future.

Saturday evening and barbeque mackerel was on the menu. The reason for fish was that today was meant to be the 50th and last day of fasting from meat (fish not included) as tomorrow spring lamb was planned to be eaten by most Bulgarians to celebrated the end of the fast and Easter.

A Bulgarian Easter 2009 - A Joyful Family OccasionSunday, and a walk to the St Nikolai Church with Galia and Baba (pictured) to light candles, say a prayer and pay our religious respects to the occasion. You will find that most Bulgarian families attend church on these special religious days and a queue to get in is quite normal. As we purchase the candles and get blessed by the priest as we enter the grand church.

We went for a little stroll through Yambol after church and treated ourselves to a little ice cream from a stall. This is something we don’t normally do so it was a very special moment sitting in the flower borne park with an ice cream. There were many little stalls open today with bouncy castles, balloons and sweets as this was a weekend of Easter family celebration with many families out walking the city centre after church on this warm and sunny day.

A Bulgarian Easter 2009 - A Joyful Family OccasionWe arrive back home to find that family guests were waiting outside out yard gate and we had the keys. From there on it was a further nine hours that elapsed with eating drinking and talking throughout. I am tempted to get on my Bulgarian food wagon again and detail the menu that was made up this evening, but will leave that for another time in another post. We had the egg knocking competition and one family member had brought his own decorated eggs that had been treated with varnish – He of course won with an unfair advantage. Within this time we also saw Everton knock Manchester United out of the English FA Cup as Ivo, Galia’s son (a Manchester United fan) and I commiserated together as Arsenal were knocked out by Chelsea yesterday.

A well-slept Sunday night led to today where this evening we are due to go to another house to spend the evening with friends instead of family. There will be another long session of eating drinking, berr and Skalitsa rakia and talking. In these instances you just can’t get enough of a good thing.

A Bulgarian Easter 2009 - A Joyful Family OccasionAs I pause slightly between each celebration, I reflect on my past in the UK and the total lack of activities such as these. Family and friend gatherings, no expensive gifts expected, no commercial chocolate eggs, no need to entertain children who are well behaved and do as they are told. Food and drink that is all natural, homemade and produced locally. Simple things are the answer here, things that are not swayed by commercialism and high expectations. But the biggest joy here is the family unit where you can communicate on all levels, talk about anything and everything, there are no secrets in the family here. Nothing is held back and nothing taboo in conversation and this applies to all four generations that attended the celebration.

It really is a privilege to be here and be accepted as part of this family. It has opened my eyes to so many things I never knew existed in family life and I’d better stop writing now before I start breaking down with joyful emotion!


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25 comments:

  1. Managed to catch the rat yet?

    Looks like you had a great celebration there without too much of any commercialism attached.

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  2. What a wonderful grass roots weekend you have had, traditional and homemade, as you put it no commercialism at all. Take comfort in that on a similar UK bicycle ride you would have run out of saliva by the 10 km mark. The dining room photo?...The food looks well tasty but you have either got a hole in your ceiling or some very high steps, I'll plump for the latter. I hope the rest of your week goes well and best wishes to Galia and Baba.

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  3. Martin, I really enjoyed reading about your Easter celebrations in Bulgaria. I think family time is most important too. PS Those eggs are so richly coloured!

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  4. Hi Martin,
    It sounds and looks like you and Galia and family had a wonderful Easter!! Thanks for sharing!! Czechs have some similar Easter traditions--meeting with family and friends during the holidays is prime! And they also prefer the homemade to the commercialized...I really do like that!!

    You and Galia and Baba have a great week!
    Sher :0)

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  5. Thanks for sharing your Bulgarian Easter with us. It sounds like you all had a wonderful time. It must be nice to get away from all the commercialisation and focus on what really matters.

    Best wishes,

    Roz

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  6. American in Britain21 April 2009 at 14:47

    What is this egg knocking competition? You're right about the celebrations being different from Britain. I grew up without the commercialisation of Easter but now it's really different. It's become a second Christmas.

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  7. Hi, Martin! I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I am still around. I moved from Being Bipolar to http://www.allaboutbipolar.com. I added you to my new blogroll.

    Love the new pics! Sounds like you had a great Easter.

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  8. Martin, beautiful set table and made me hungry just looking , and a good church celebration to go along with it , don't eat smoked mackrel often , but after a fast ,it even sounds good . thanks for the Easter wishes and the get well cheer , I am on the mend quite well now and will have a pair of boots to wear next time . Good you got to spend time with friends to , that s what I love about the LOS and the people here , family and friends are so important and a part of our everyday life , not just every once in a while like where we come from . I know that is why we are so happy in oour new land and lives . HE IS RISEN Malcolm

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  9. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 09:54

    Hi Lina,

    No rat in the trap, but rumour has it that the local street cats had a good meal last night!

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  10. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 09:55

    Hi Martyn,

    A little Red Bull came in handy!

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  11. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 09:56

    Hi JaPRA,

    Family occassions are wonderful - All new to me here! The eggs just brighten the whole room up.

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  12. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 09:59

    Hi Sher,

    Yes, we actually did the same thing at Easter last year, but is felt like such a long time ago and s much has happened in between you tend to forget. Glad you have the same cultural elements, very fulfulling ofr the soul. :)

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  13. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 10:02

    Hi Roz,

    If there is one thing that gets my goat it is people being led up the garden path with commercialism. I don't have to fight that too much here yet.

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  14. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 10:06

    Hi A in B,

    The egg knocking competiton is a simple game where one egg is knocked against a competitor's egg and the winner with the uncracked shell goes on to knock another competitor's egg. The last uncracked egg is the outright winner. Not just a Bulgarian traditon but throughout the Balkan lands and spreading into Greek territory. I use to play this at Easter i the UK within the Greek community based there.

    I agree almost a second Christmas reefling about the occassion.

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  15. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 10:07

    Hi ATS,

    Thanks for lettgin me know - Got it covered, take care now! :)

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  16. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 10:10

    Hi Malcolm,
    Great wise words, thank you.

    Your pictures really do liven this blog section up, lovely stuff.

    It is not only Jesus that has risen from the dead but many expatriates as well with their move abroad to unspoilt regions where love and care stands fast. :)

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  17. Mark @ TravelWonders22 April 2009 at 10:55

    Easter without commercialism is difficult to imagine in Australia. Great story told with emotion that you capture so well.

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  18. Martin in Bulgaria22 April 2009 at 14:13

    Hi Mark,
    Thanks for the comment.
    Such a pity Australia is like that. Writing about things like this is easy, you just say how it actually is.

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  19. You are a true local Bulgarian arnt you, living like they do, great. I always try my best when I've lived in Holland and Italy. I move to Sweden this weekend for minimum 3 years. I've started learning the language and that, it's very surprisingly going well, must be the viking in us from danelow.
    But a good write up on your easter, nice traditional place Bulgaria and genuine people. I would get rid of cars altogther in all the world, they are an eyesore and theres to many f"#¤###32FF lunatics out there. I'll be back there soon. and by the way, is the table really small or are you really tall? Thanks, Rich

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  20. aaahhh... then the cat should have a full stomach and would be purring happily. :)

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  21. Hello Martin! :D

    First of all: thank you so much for having dropped by my blog and left such a supportive comment (it lifted up my spirit) :D! I hope to see more of you there (you are extremely welcome) :D!

    So, you are a Brit, eh?

    About your post: I would say that the increase of traffic comes with economic development as well (I remember that, in Portugal up to 1989, traffic was low, but from 1990 onwards things have been chaotic!).

    "What I normally do in these cases is spit on their car window screen as they go past, it make me feel better that a message has been delivered." - LOL LOL LOL seriously? LOL...

    What a beautiful picture (with Galia and Baba), Martin...it conveys peace!

    "He of course won with an unfair advantage." - LOL LOL of course...

    Awwww, Martin...the part where you speak of family is so beautiful! I am a firm believer in the family institution so, I too almost broke down with joyful emotion as I read your magnificent post! :D

    Be sure that I will return; loved your blog!

    Cheers

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  22. Martin in Bulgaria24 April 2009 at 20:47

    Hi Max, Glad to see you here.

    ReplyDelete
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