St Ignatius' Day - awaiting the Young God and the Sun reborn

It's Ignazhden! On St Ignatius' Day, 20 December, we honour the memory of St Ignatius the Theophorus.

In the Bulgarian calendar St Ignatius' Day (Ignazhden) is not only a religious but also a folklore holiday. According to national tradition, it is the day when the birth pangs of the Mother of God begin. This day marks the beginning of the great cycle of Christmas and New Year celebrations.

In folklore, St Ignatius' Day has an interesting tradition: it is extremely important who enters the house first. This person is called Polaznik. It is believed that when he or she crosses the threshold, it foretells what the next year will bring.

If the polaznik is a good, happy or wealthy person, the family in the house will have a good, healthy and fruitful year.

The polaznik can also be an animal, as Mariya Boyanova from the National Ethnographic Museum reminds us:

"Very often a domestic animal was brought into the house, such as an ox, which is a gentle and much-loved creature among Bulgarians. Oxen were indispensable to our ancestors, as they helped plough the fields and provided food.

And if the polaznik was a person, he or she was often invited the night before, as no one wanted an unwelcome polaznik in their home. If, by chance, an unwanted early guest came to the door, he would often be chased out by the hosts, who would shout and swear at him. Thus, on the morning of Ignazhden, no one dared to leave his house and pay an uninvited visit.

When invited, the polaznik always brought a gift for the house - he couldn't enter empty-handed. He had to bring something, even if it was just a handful of wood chips or straw. He would place the gift by the fireplace. Then he would stir the embers with the fire poker and call out: As many sparks as there are in the fireplace, as many calves, chicks and lambs in the yard...", i.e. he wishes that the livestock in the house will multiply.

The mistress of the house then goes through all the rooms with a sieve and symbolically sows the seeds so that the grain and the wheat will grow accordingly. We can see that the symbolism of the polaznik extends to everything - good luck, health in the home, the multiplication of animals and the growth of crops. These laws were observed to maintain order and prevent chaos".

The meaning of St. Ignatius day – to follow the purity of the heart of a child

Ignazhden is very close to the winter solstice and in ancient times, even before the spread of Christianity, European nations celebrated the winter solstice and the birth of the sun at the end of December, explains the researcher of Bulgarian traditions. The celebration falls within the Lent period, which begins on December 15 and ends on Christmas Eve, December 24.

During this time, people used to cook mainly grains and legumes - wheat, beans, lentils, but also oshav (boiled dried fruits), tikvenik (pumpkin pastry) - these dishes were served both on St. Ignatius' Day and on Christmas Eve.

Ignazhden is one of the three festive evenings when the table is isensed (the others being Christmas Eve and Yordanovden). In Western Bulgaria, special ritual breads are baked for Ignazhden and miniature bread rings are prepared for the children. In Sofia, the first Ignazhden bread is kept for Christmas Eve.

"In general, the role of the bread is to pray for fertility. Ritual breads are decorated with motifs from people's livelihoods and a cross, which is not only associated with Christianity but is also a symbol of the sun," says Mariya Boyanova:

"Ignazhden bread is shaped and baked in a circular form, which is an ancient symbol of the sun, as bread is also associated with the worship of the Sun. The feast of St Ignatius falls during Lent, and so the bread is kneaded without leaven, as leaven is said to be alive and therefore cannot be eaten during Lent.

Frankincense is burned to purify the table. Myrrh, charcoal from the hearth and wax were placed on a ploughshare - the metal part of the plough that goes into the ground to turn it. After censing the table, incense is burned in all the rooms to purify them as well. The ritual is repeated three times to "invoke a new beginning and a fresh start for the New Year".

In the modern urban environment there is no hearth and most people have no idea what a ploughshare is, so it is difficult to perform the ritual according to the old traditions. "But nowadays, lighting a candle is something that symbolically repeats the idea of cleansing the table with incense," says Mariya Boyanova, noting a resurgence of interest in old Bulgarian traditions among younger generations. "Every year, mothers come to our Christmas workshops and ask us very specifically, for example, what decorations to put on the loaves of bread," she says.

Photos: Anelia Milusheva, stornik.bg, tvshumen.bg, archive

Publication in English: E. Radkova

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St Ignatius' Day - awaiting the Young God and the Sun reborn

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