Today the church celebrates the Ascension of Jesus. The holiday is always marked on Thursday, 40 days after Easter. According to Christians, after the Resurrection Jesus remained on earth and preached among his disciples. On the 40th day he appeared to his disciples for the last time, talked to them and led them out of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives before ascending to heaven. In Bulgarian the day is also called Spasovden (derivative of the verb meaning “to save”), because the Ascension completed the act of salvation.
According to folklore beliefs, Spasovden is related to the cult of the dead. On the eve of the holiday, people who are ill and infertile women used to sleep in meadows where dittany grew in order to get healthy. The day is a holiday of bakers and confectioners. People named Spas, Spasena, Spasimir, Spasimira, Spasiana, Spaska, etc. also celebrate today.Founding a Bulgarian Orthodox parish thousands of kilometers away from the homeland is no easy task, especially when the Bulgarian diaspora is scattered across vast distances. In Bulgaria we take for granted that every neighborhood in a large city has..
The Urvich Fortress continues to reveal its secrets from the time when Sofia was Roman Serdica. A triangular stone tower dating back to the end of the 2nd century was discovered by young archaeologists Dr. Filip Petrunov and..
In Northeastern Bulgaria the river Rusenski Lom and its tributaries – Cherni, Beli and Malki Lom – have carved out a rugged rocky landscape with hidden caves and hushed valleys where the only sound is that of the birdsong. People have settled in..
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