Orthodoxy and pagan rites on Forgiveness Sunday

Orthodoxy and pagan rites on Forgiveness Sunday

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The Christian meaning of the feast of Forgiveness Sunday or Shrovetide is usually associated with the beginning of the 40-day Easter Lent. This is the interpretation of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Yet, there are a number of traditional Bulgarian customs associated with this feast that are much more ancient. These pre-Christian pagan traditions have yielded diverse rites in Bulgaria.

According to the Eastern Orthodox calendar, Forgiveness Sunday, or Shrovetide is marked seven weeks before Easter, it is always on Sunday - this year on February 26. For centuries on end, the rituals of this day actually started a week earlier, when it is the last time when people can serve meat at their table before the Great Lent. The week locked between the two holidays is called Cheesefare Sunday (because this is the last time people can actually eat cheese before the Lent). It was and still is filled with many customs and rituals. With their help, Bulgarian farmers predicted the future yield of the land, the welfare of his home, the life and health of everyone in the family.

Once and in many cases today, as well, Cheesefare Sunday was also the day of pardon forgiveness. The young were supposed to beg for forgiveness from the elderly in the family and this was done by kissing the hand of the elderly person three times. It happened this way: first they touched the hand of the elderly man or woman with the forehead, then with lips and then with the forehead again and uttered "Forgive me" to which the adult was supposed to say “I give you forgiveness and may the Lord give you forgiveness, as well!" Throughout the day, close and distant relatives exchanged visits. As a rule, the younger had to go to the home of the elderly to do away with all hidden enmities and forget all bad words they said to each other over the past year. "There is pardoning for each error", a Bulgarian proverb says. So on that day everyone must overcome the subdued hostility and purify and liberate one’s soul.

Bulgarians associate two other customs with Forgiveness Sunday – these are the bonfires and masquerade games. There is popular belief that the fires burning on earth can kindle the heavenly fire, the sun, which is revived in the spring. So various rituals involving fire are performed on Forgiveness Sunday. In some regions of the country, the lads throw burning arrows. Elsewhere, they put some straw in a basket, set it on fire and rotate it.

And what about to the masquerade element in these rituals?

Masquerade traditions around Forgiveness Sunday in Bulgaria are similar to those of other European nations, used to symbolically expel evil forces with a deafening peal. This happens on Kukerovden, or Mummer’s Day, the Monday following Cheesefare Sunday. Participants in the ritual are the so-called koukeri, or "mummers" - masked men with belts of small and large bells tied around their waists.
In the past, in the early morning hours on Kukerovden, also known as the day of the old men, small and large ordinary bells and cowbells resounded everywhere, and the lads used to get together in a hiding place, dress in women’s clothes, paint their faces black and disguise themselves with masks.

And of course, there are legends related to those masquerades, and one of them is particularly old and popular.
It tells of a father who was preparing the mummer’s tackles for his son – a young unmarried boy. As the father was handling the items, he recalled his youth when he was a young lad, unmarried bachelor, who played in the masquerades disguised as a mummer. And he remembered a story his grandfather used to tell him often: a very long time ago, the land of the Bulgarians was paradise, a lavish garden when people were generously rewarded with the fruits of their labor. People lived happily and had a wise and good-natured ruler. His name was Dobrodor (The maker of good) and he was a bachelor. However, the daughter of the neighboring king envied his happiness. Her name was Zliyana (Evil-maker). She fell in love with Dobrodor but he already had a sweetheart. So she decided to take revenge and do evil – she cast an evil spell that turned the faces of all men into animal features and they subsequently died.

Later in the story that shows why Bulgarian bachelors mask their faces on the Mummer’s day, Zliyana and her evil spells brought misfortune to many people. Dobrodor was stricken with grief and went for advice to his father. And he came up with the solution. He summoned all the bachelors in the kingdom and ordered them to flay the hides of all cattle - to make masks and disguise themselves in women’s clothes and bridal dresses, to tie belts of bells across their waist and go to the field, to strap themselves into a harness like oxen and thus do their fieldwork and plow the land...

And so did the lads. They flayed the hides of the cattle, prepared the masks to cover their faces, ordained in bridal costumes, to avoid the evil spell. Thus they managed to plow and sow their fields. The outwitted evil witch Zliyana burst with anger. Since then, the ringing of bells and the masquerade games played by the young lads have been used to drive the evil spirits away….

So this was how the tradition of masquerade games originated here in Bulgarian lands, and interestingly enough, this rather pagan tradition coincides with one of the most important Christian feasts, Forgiveness Sunday.

Translated by Rossitsa Petcova

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Orthodoxy and pagan rites on Forgiveness Sunday

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