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For instance, in bulgaria every year on January 6th, young people jump into freezing water looking for a christian cross:
From last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGe80Qwf18I
That is nothing, for Bulgaria! Have you ever seen the Nestinarki, the fire-walkers? They're women who come out of the mountains, seemingly out of nowhere, and walk on hot coals at night, repeating this nightly for about a week.
Pagan traditions are normal where I live. Every year, between Dec. 24 and January 6 (today) the Native people have winter ceremonies in which they do buffalo dances, corn dances, and deer dances, celebrating the winter solstice. Obviously, their ceremonial calendar has adapted to the Christian one, but that's all that's Christian about it. Then in summer, they have summer ceremonies to call the rain to their crops. These are also traditional feast days.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 01-06-2017 at 12:49 PM..
For instance, in bulgaria every year on January 6th, young people jump into freezing water looking for a christian cross:
From last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGe80Qwf18I
Good reminder, thanks! I'm not sure if Nestinari is Bulgarian thing though. The word doesn't sound slavic at all, maybe the origin is Romnian or Greek?
Good reminder, thanks! I'm not sure if Nestinari is Bulgarian thing though. The word doesn't sound slavic at all, maybe the origin is Romnian or Greek?
Good question, I'll see if I can find anything out. I have a friend who went to the music conservatory in Bulgaria, and lived there for several years afterwards, teaching and giving concerts. He said he was out in a remote part of the country once, and saw the Nestinarki coming out of the forest as if out of nowhere, then setting up their ritual fire, to later get the hot coals to spread around. He watched the whole ceremony, and said it was the eeriest, strangest thing he'd ever seen, from the moment they appeared, to the end. He said it was other-worldly.
The only I can remember is the 'Juhannustaika'. An unmarried woman should pick (preferrably naked) 7 or 9 different flowers on Midsummer Eve night and put them under her pillow before going to sleep. In her sleep her future husband will appear. Some still do this for fun.
Another one during Midsummer is to burn the midsummer bonfire. Today it's done only for fun and because it's cozy, but originally it was lit to drive away evil spirits. Another one was lit on winter solstice, and small rituals on spring and autumn solstice to fill the whole sun cycle, but these practices are now forgotten. (Known in Finnish as the sun wheel.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_cross
This is such a great topic! Such a refreshing change from discussing hair and eye color, or asking how to move to Europe to get on welfare, or genetic nit-picking (which I tend to enjoy, but still, it's nice to have a change).
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