Lazarovden: customs, namesakes and table

Lazarus Day is celebrated every penultimate Saturday before Easter.

Lazarovden Nouns:

Lazar, Lazarinka, Lazarina, Lazo, Lazarka, Lalka, Lalko, Lalo, Lala, Lalio, Lalyu

Customs

According to the Bulgarian folk tradition, Lazarus or "Lazaritsa”, "Lazarus Saturday" is a celebration of the fields, pastures and forests, but also a celebration of girls who, after being Lazarus, can publicly groom, dress and behave in such a way that the bachelors like them, have a lover, to get married. The day is also called Lazarova Saturday, Lazaritsa, Lazarus. Three rites are associated with it - lazaration, choosing a bridegroom and boenek. All three are connected with the transition to virginity, with love and domestication.

On this day, groups of six to seven girls aged 10 to 16, dressed in festive clothes or bridal costumes and adorned with garlands and wristbands, go round the homes of the village singing ritual songs for each member of the family, praising children, old, young, maidens, bachelors, brides, as well as shepherds, herdsmen, grooms. The hosts give them eggs and money. It is believed that the house in which they entered and sang lazarkas will be blessed throughout the year. Lazarkas roam the forests, rivers and meadows. They enter the fields with a song and wish for a rich harvest of the greening wheat.

The Lazarus songs are accompanied by ritual people and handmaidens. If by chance the lazarkas miss a house, then, according to popular belief, misfortune will befall their owners. This usually happens by accident. But sometimes, and even in very rare cases, this is allowed on purpose. The Lazarites they do not visit the homes of socially rejected people

The Orthodox Church observes the church holiday Lazarovden, which has a rolling date and is always on the penultimate Saturday before Easter. In the calendar of the Christian church, the holiday is connected with one of the most exciting Gospel stories - the resurrection of Lazarus, who lived in the city of Bethany, near Jerusalem. According to the gospel, when the Savior was in the lands beyond the Jordan River, Lazarus fell ill and died. When the messiah returns, he resurrects the deceased on the fourth day of his burial as a sign of gratitude for his hospitality.