In Bulgaria, Christmas is celebrated on December 25 and 26.

This is
because in the communist era religious celebrations were prohibited, so
they came up with another party that, by chance, was the very next day.

The christmas menu

Vegetable-based dishes are cooked, such as stuffed peppers, legumes,
seeds, fruits, honey and nuts. There are always walnuts on the Bulgarian
Christmas table, and how they are cracked predicts the success or
failure of the coming year. On the table there are several typical
Bulgarian dishes, such as "sarmis".

The Christmas Eve table is not cleared until the next morning, in case
the spirits of family ancestors come during the night.
On Christmas Eve the koledari go around the houses singing Christmas
songs. They are usually children dressed in traditional costumes,
shepherd type, and in exchange they are given some food, Christmas
offerings such as cookies or sweets. They carry long sticks with loaves
called kravai on the top.

We celebrate these parties twice, according to the two calendars,

because we like parties and enjoy celebrating.

In Bulgarian there are two ways to call Christmas. The first is

Rozhdestvo Hristovo (Рождество Христово) which exactly means the
Birth of Jesus Christ.

In recent years, non-religious people, especially young people,

increasingly use the Slavic word Koleda, (Коледа) which is related to
Santa Claus, (in Bulgarian Дядо Коледа), the one who brings gifts to
children.

They say that Koleda comes from the Latin word Kalende which is
related to the winter solstice of the sun. The Romans celebrated around
these dates the victory of light over darkness, due to the increase in the
day and the hours of light.
For the Bulgarian believers at Christmas with the birth of Jesus, the Sun
is born again to bring vitality to living beings, joy to families, goodness
and happiness to all.

From the morning of Christmas Eve (in Bulgarian Бъдни Вечер) the
preparations begin with a lot of movement in the houses. Everyone
wants to help prepare the Christmas table, from children to the elderly.

The men are usually put to physical work, for example collecting
firewood for the fireplace. The women are in charge of the kitchen,
preparing the vegetarian dishes.

The custom says that the owner of the house has to light the fireplace
with an oak log called Badnik (Бъдник). This trunk has to remain burning
throughout the night, as a symbol of the eternal flame. It is believed that
in this way the house will be protected from evil spirits and diseases.

Fire is also a symbol of the birth of Jesus. The more sparks come out of
the fire, the better the new year will be, there will be a good harvest,
children will be born, and there will be happiness for everyone.

The Christmas tree is another essential element of the Christmas

environment. In Bulgaria the tree (usually pine) is a symbol of green
nature, of eternal life.

The decorations of the tree are associated with the good charitable
gestures that people make for the most unfortunate.

Food on Christmas Eve:

The Bulgarian tradition is that the table has an odd number of food
dishes. They can be, for example, 7 as the days of the week, or 9 as the
months of pregnancy for women.

According to beliefs, there must be everything on the table: wheat bread,

rice, corn, lentils, beans, all kinds of vegetables and legumes, many nuts
and honey.
In general, a large part of the dishes of typical Bulgarian food are
present, except those that contain meat. You can not miss the good
wine, in fact bread and wine are the main elements of dinner.

The common dishes that are always prepared for Christmas Eve:

Peppers stuffed with rice or beans, according to the taste of each one.
Sarmi in cabbage or grape leaves: they are portions of rice wrapped in
these leaves.
Cooked beans.
Vegetarian vegetable soup.
Banitsa with pumpkin filling (instead of cheese).
Salads of all kinds.
Nuts and fruits in syrup.
Great prominence has the homemade bread, called Pitka, Pita or
Bogovitsa (Боговица). In each region of Bulgaria it is given a different
name. Eggs should not be added to the dough. The bread has some
drawings and small figures made of dough, as symbols of goodness and
wealth. An interesting custom is to put a coin into the bread dough
before baking.
The lucky one who touches the part of the bread with the coin will have a
lot of health, luck and will be happy throughout the new year.

Christmas Day:
On Christmas Eve you should not sleep. You have to watch the fire in
the fireplace all night and wait for guests.

In the early hours of Christmas it is time to receive Koledari, groups of

young people who come singing. They are usually single men or those
who are soon to be married. They are dressed in traditional Bulgarian
costumes. They usually have different ornaments of nuts or popcorn.

Since December 20 these groups of men have been preparing for

Christmas night. They learn carols and other Christmas songs and sing
them to visiting family members.
The purpose of these visits is to bring the good news of the Birth of
Jesus Christ. Their songs are believed to have the power to drive away
evil spirits and curses.

The Koledari receive gifts from the owners of the houses: food, wine,
rolls prepared especially for that (gevrek or kravaiche), homemade
sausages prepared by the owners (sudzhuk, in Bulgarian суджук).

In the morning on Christmas day the whole town comes out to dance
HORO (typical Bulgarian dance) in the town squares. Each part of the
country has its own dances, always accompanied by folk music. The
children go through the houses singing the birth of Jesus Christ. They
receive sweets, coins and small gifts.
Dinner on Christmas night is richer than Christmas Eve. You can now
eat meat and barbecues and ovens are started.

Kavarma (Кавърма) is one of the typical dishes that is usually prepared

for Christmas dinner. The ingredients: a mixture of pieces of meat (pork,
beef and chicken) with many vegetables and spices, all this cooked for
several hours on a slow fire.

The Christmas celebration does not end on the 25th. It usually lasts 3
days, until December 27th.

New Year's Eve:

It is very common on New Year's Eve (in Bulgarian Новогодишна Нощ)
to share a table with other people to say goodbye to the year. The
houses are open to receive guests, showing respect to everyone.

It is an important element of the character of the Bulgarians. Each guest

usually brings drinks and food from home to share with others.

It must be said that in Bulgaria years ago, in Soviet times, New Year's
Eve was the most important holiday. Christmas was hardly celebrated,
the rulers of the country transferred all the importance of the Christmas
holidays to the New Year.
The Orthodox Church and religious families did respect the Birth of
Jesus. Without being officially prohibited, the party was celebrated in the
houses without much noise. But all the prominence was New Year's Eve.

In the early hours of the New Year, Grandfather Cold (Дядо Мраз), the
Russian Santa Claus, came to leave gifts for the children. This is how we
celebrated during the communist era, more than 30 years.

But these times are already in the past. In the years of democracy in
Bulgaria, believers gradually adopted Western customs and began to
celebrate Christmas like everyone else.

As usual in almost all countries at 12 midnight, the New Year is received

by toasting with a glass of champagne or wine. In Bulgaria we don't have
the tradition for example of eating the 12 grapes.

But we have another interesting custom. A very traditional dish is

prepared for New Year's Eve dinner. Banitsa (Баница) is a homemade
puff pastry filled with white brine cheese and scrambled eggs.
The tradition in this case is to put a few pieces of paper with wishes in
each portion of the banitsa. In the first minutes of the new year, the cake
is distributed among all and each one checks the luck that falls on their
piece of paper.

The first day of the New Year:

Survakane (Сурвакане) is one of the most beautiful traditions that takes
place on January 1 in the morning. Children (Survakari, in Bulgarian
Сурвакари) begin to arrive at every house with branches in their hands
called Survaknitsa (Сурвакница).

The branches are beautifully decorated with popcorn, nuts and colorful
paper. The kids have been preparing for this big day for weeks.
They come reciting poems and patting the adults' backs with their
branches. They receive coins and many small gifts. An unforgettable
moment for each child, for them it is one of the happiest days of the year.

By custom, on the first day of January, the houses of relatives, friends

and neighbors are visited. Several families get together to congratulate
each other on the New Year, share the table and toast to health and
prosperity for all.