Prepolovenie (Halving) is one of the movable feasts and is celebrated on the 25th day after Easter when the time left to the great day of Pentecost is halved. Therefore this day is always marked on a Wednesday, though on a different date every year. For most Bulgarians Halving is unknown, however, for the residents of Assenovgrad and Bachkovo it is an important and long-awaited occasion, one of the central holidays on the traditional festive calendar. On this day, by tradition, an Assenovgrad icon pays a visit to Bachkovo Monastery. It is an altar icon of the Holy Virgin from The Annunciation Church in the town that is believed to be wonder working. The church was built in 1830, to replace an earlier chapel owned by Bachkovo Monastery that later donated the wonder working icon. The church is better known as the Fish Church, in part due to the decoration of the dome reminiscent of fish scales or it could be for the fish swimming in the pool inside the small chapel by the church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The faithful believe that if they see the fish in the pool, their prayers will materialize.

On Halving Day the wonder working Assenovgrad icon is at the heart of a procession that takes it to the Bachkovo Monastery. The ritual begins on the eve of the feast, when faithful Christians from near and far flock to the church to visit the holy place "for the sake of good health." In the morning, the icon is placed on a special stretcher adorned with flowers. Under the chime of church bells the rally passes through the city led by the priests and accompanied by many believers. Town residents take to the streets to welcome the icon. All strive to reach it, and hold it for a short while - it is believed that it is going to bring good health and luck. Passage under the stretcher purges from sins and is healing. The flowers from the icon are also considered miraculous and after the conclusion of the holiday women take blades and leaves from them to carry back home. In the past, the procession reached the monastery on foot, but today cars and buses are typically used for transportation. The whole monastic brotherhood led by the Father Superior goes out to meet the icon and to bow to it. Then a ceremony is held in the yard and the honored "visitor" is introduced into the church, where it is left for worship. In the afternoon it goes back to town along the same route and Asenovgrad people go out in the streets again to welcome it back.

There is a popular legend that the icon from the town is the daughter of the Holy Virgin icon at Bachkovo Monastery, and on this day the daughter goes to see his mother. When separated again, icons begin weeping, so it is always raining on Halving Day.

According to historical studies the emergence of the procession is associated with the Bulgarian-Greek religious strife in the town at the beginning of 20 c., however the oral tradition explains the festival with an extraordinary event known as "angelic" or "celestial" service. There is surviving written evidence about it: in January 1910 the Sofia-based newspaper Evening Mail carried a report of the local priest Noah Angelov later quoted by the great Bulgarian folklorist Michael Arnaoudov. According to the stories of the local people, the miracle happened in the winter, around midnight. An angelic procession passed the route from Bachkovo to the Fish Church, and the powers of heaven served a liturgy there accompanied by beating of bells, chants and the occurrence of divine light. The miracle was observed simultaneously by many people in different parts of the town and its surroundings. Some heard the heavenly bells without knowing that they were witnessing a miracle and thought a girl had eloped to wed in secret at night, as was the custom at that time. Belated traders returning from Plovdiv noticed an unusual glow over Bahcha neighborhood where the church is located and decided that some big rich mansion was burning. On the next day they were surprised to find out that there had been no fire.

That night at the home of priest Ivan Buhlev, next to the church, a working bee was underway. The women and girls taking part in it heard how the holy service began in the church, but did not dare to come in, because they knew the church was locked and the priest was sleeping. The most direct witnesses of the miracle however were two women from Plovdiv villages having come to sleep by the church for the sake of health. They had the rare chance to watch the angelic service with their eyes and had miraculous healing.

Soon after the angelic service clairvoyant Sultani Shishmanova from the town had a prophetic dream. The Holy Virgin appeared to her and asked the community to take her icon for a visit to Bachkovo Monastery every year. She predicted that on this day thousands of people from all over Bulgaria would come locally for the promise of miracles taking place. Assenovgrad people complied with what the Holy Mother of God wanted, and this is how the tradition of the procession emerged. It seems that Virgin Mary keeps her promise to carry out miracles on that day. There are numerous stories of wonders that the faithful tell: of how a dumb kid began speaking; about healing of various diseases; and even about the unexpected change that occurred in an aggressive husband who stopped harassing his wife.

English Daniela Konstantinova

Ass. Prof. Vihra Baeva is member of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with an Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences