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.

The 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.

There 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.

After 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!

Sirni Zagovezni in Bulgaria

One of the favourite festivals in Bulgaria is called ‘Sirni Zagovezni’ meaning ‘Shrove Sunday’ or ‘The Great Lent’. This comes around each year falling on a Sunday some seven weeks before Easter.

I have experienced two seasons of these now. It is a time of celebrating the beginning of spring and a period of fasting, in fact the longest fasting period of the year in Orthodox tradition. This means abstaining from meat, dairy products, (fish once a week is allowed,) no traditional dancing and no marriages to take place until Easter. This fasting does still go on but the food is too good and too tempting here for me to even consider joining this part of the ritual.

Many villages and towns have the traditional ritual of building of large bonfires and this was no exception in Skalitsa. There is either a communal bonfire normally or individual groups made by neighbours on their own. The fires would be built in higher areas with the belief that this would prevent hailstorms striking in the areas they are lit. I live high up on the high ground of the village so just outside my house was a good place for this.

The preparations for this festival are made by hand carving wooden rockets and laying them out to dry for a week or two so they are tinder dry for the day. This was really tough on the hands and my efforts only managed to get three carved. One of these is pictured below. These rockets would be launched after being set alight from the bonfire once fixed onto launching sticks. They ‘take off’ by the rocket is fixed to one stick and beat against another projecting it up to 100 metres in the air and over neighbouring houses. Just as each is launched, a name is shouted out and that rocket subsequently dedicated to that person, family, friend or lover!

The rockets are collected by young Bulgarian maidens and whoever collects the most will be deemed to be the fairest in the town or village. The young male pilots of the rockets therefore usually aim their rockets at their favoured maiden’s home to make it easier for them to find. This is a tradition where both young and old gather. The bonfire is the place where in the main asking for forgiveness is given from the young to the old; a time to rid everyone of past quarrels. This is traditionally a time for the younger members of the community to respect the elders.

Jumping over the fire is another part of the ritual usually performed by the younger members of the community, although many older members have been known to have a go and some of them did this cold Sunday evening! It is said that the farthest jump would give that young man a wife in the autumn, but all attempts will give good health to participants for their efforts. I had a go but let others beat me in distance as I didn't want to get married again! When the rockets and jumping have finished, and probably the wine and rakia almost finished having been passed around while in progress, it doesn’t stop there. This after all, is the last day of feasting and dancing prior to the fasting period so it is back home for Bulgarian apple bobbing, wining, dining and dancing until the early hours, for in the morning brings about a focus of the body and mind until Easter. Well to be quite honest it was a good start as I didn't fancy anything to eat in the morning!