The Assumption, 15 August, is the earliest feast of Virgin Mary in the ecclesiastical calendar. In Bulgarian folklore it is known as Big Holy Mother of God or Big Church. To the present day the feast is celebrated with remarkable solemnity across the Bulgarian lands. It is preceded by a 15-day fasting dedicated to the death of the Virgin Mary or to her Assumption (sleep), and to her ascension to heaven.

The cult for the Holy Mother of God is deeply rooted in the Bulgarian traditional culture. Folk songs, legends and a string of beliefs outline her image as a loving mother, righteous and compassionate even to sinners. She is close to people to protect and guide them, to support their choice and suggest to them what they should stay away from. All saints respond to her pleas and orders. At night she shares the dinner with the Moon, and in the morning - with the bright Sun. Virgin Mary is the patron of motherhood, of women and children. Therefore the Assumption is a feast of brides and women in child-bearing age. Women are banned from work on this day. Those who had not given birth yet, should take to the church homemade kerchiefs, aprons, socks, as well as flowers that are arranged under the icon of the Holy Virgin. In popular Christianity,Virgin Mary takes care of parents and babies.

A popular folk song recounts of the miraculous growth of a holy tree under which the Holy Mother of God was sitting. She held in her hands Infant Jesus and instructed twelve priests to light twelve candles and rings twelve bells so that her son could be baptized. Versions of this story are common in Bulgarian folklore - about the tree that suddenly grows up from nothing to provide a protective shadow for the Holy Mother of God with the Holy Infant. The tree's top touches heaven and its roots, “the lower land”. The song The Prayer of Virgin Mary tells us that there are white monasteries at the roots of the tree. The Holy Virgin is there holding her child and wishing him to grow up, and reign over earth and heaven; his father's earth and grandfather's heaven.

Countless legends tell us about miraculous healing, the work of the Holy Virgin through her icons or mystical appearances. People in Bansko recount that during the Turkish yoke in Bulgaria troops headed to the town to raid it. All of a sudden the Holy Virgin Mary appeared in front of them and stopped them. Today Bansko has a church with the name The Assumption. It was built in 16-17 c. over the foundations of a medieval Christian church.

The natural phenomenon known as The Tread of the Holy Mother of God is located not far from the city of Stara Zagora, Southern Bulgaria, According to legend this was a place where way back, a few Romans were torturing a Christian man. He endured the great suffering with dignity and prayed all the time. Moved by his faith, the Holy Virgin appeared in the sky and descended with the Holy Infant in her hands. She saved the man from his torturers, and a tray of water formed in the rock where she had trodden. She washed the little Jesus and then disappeared. To this day, there is a concavity reminiscent of a human foot where water never dries up.

At the solemn liturgy on The Assumption, grapes, water-melon, honey and bread from the new flour are water-blessed. Then women give them away as a way to commemorate the deceased.Ethnologists argue that these sacrifices speak for ancient mythological ideas that later in time were transformed within the context of the cult to the Holy Virgin. In the region of Veliko Tarnovo, Central Bulgaria, the Holy Mother of God is venerated as the patron of livestock. Great Bulgarian ethnographer Dimitar Marinov has recorded the following practice: women knead buns and give them away for the sake of oxen health.

By tradition the Assumption is a day for personal, family and community votive offerings for the sake of health, of family and village gatherings. August 15 is the name day of Marias, Marianas etc.

English Daniela Konstantinova

The audio to this feature presents the following folk songs:

1. The Holy Mother of God, singing Daniel Spassov

2. A Holy Tree Grew Up, singing Bisserov Sisters

3. The Prayer of the Holy Virgin, singing Daniel Spassov and Milen Ivanov

4. Dear Virgin Mary, singing Manol Mihaylov