October
October
in the Roman calendar is the eighth month of the year. Old people call
it “Mitro’s month” or “fall of the leaf”.
In Thrace the autumn till St. Demetrius’ Day is called “Grandmother’s
summer” which is harvest time. This is the reason why the holidays
are not so many.
10 October. Nameday of Filip
(‘lover of horses’ from Old Greek).
14 October PETKOVDEN
(St. Petka’s Day)
On the day of Saint Petka it is forbidden
to spin and knit. In our folk mythology
she is an aunt of Saint Demetrius. On her day
children must not take baths. It is believed
that the ones who do not fast on the Friday
before the holiday may drown.
The nameday of Petkana, Petrana, Penka,
Petko.
18 October. Nameday of Zlatko, Zlatka
(gold). Gold jewels are polished so as to bring happiness and luck
to their owners.
26 October DIMITROVDEN (St. Demetrius’ Day)
(Razpust)
St.
Demetrius’ Day is one of the most
respected holidays of the Bulgarians.
According to legends in Thrace, Saint
Demetrius is the protector of winter and cold and is the elder brother
of Saint George. He rides a red horse and has a long white beard, from
which comes the snow. In Northern
Bulgaria the holiday is also called Razpust (Dismissal Day) because on
this day local and foreign farmhands were dismissed and arrangements were
made for next year. The
best of them were given a new dress, a ram or an ewe.
On this day old Bulgarians from the Sea of Azov region read the moon.
If it formed a
complete circle, they believed that spring
will come early and the bees will fill the beehives.
Around St. Demetrius’ Day the building of new houses was completed.
Owners and neighbors gave gifts to the masons, and the
master-builder cried over the big wooden cross put on the roof a mason’s
blessing for health and prosperity in the new home. The ritual required
the host to kill a white ram and invite the whole village to the new house.
Most respected is St. Demetrius’ Day by those with names like Dimitar,
Dimitrina,
Dimo, Dima, Mitko, Mitra. By an old custom, you go to a nameday without
being invited. You must bring white flowers, which symbolize the mellow
winter. The flowers are tied with a red thread so that the man or the
woman having a nameday is white and red during the whole year.
27
October MISHINDEN
(Mouse Day)
The day is honoured by women. They do
not do household work so that mice do not
harm the house and the grain. They sew up
the front and the back of their skirts as a
symbolical “sewing up” of the mice’s eyes.
