FOLKLORE AND CUSTOMS
Sourvakars.- Boys going from house to house wishing people a Happy New Year slapping them ritually with an ornamented twig for health and prosperity
Martyr Triffon Zarezan (Pruner).- Vine-dresses’ day -first pruning of the vines
Saturday of Lazarus.- Dancing to the accompaniment of ritual songs for the Day - a ritual dedicated to the fields, pastures, forests and young girls: Lazarki, performed for health, happiness and fertility
Rose Day.-Celebrates the start of rose-picking
Nestinars.- A ritual bare-feet dance on live coal (fire dancing).
Major folk festivals:
International Folk Festival, Bourgas, in the second half of August. Annual
Festival of the Rose, Kazanlak. In early June. Annual
Folk Festival in the town of Koprivshtitza, a true holiday of Bulgarian folklore at which singers and musicians gather and perform authentic Bulgarian folk and pop music, held every fifth year
International Festival of the Koukers (mummers) and masquerade games-held every other year in the town of Pernik
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