site.btaPresident Rumen Radev to Take Part in Ritual of Cutting of Vines near Vidin

President Rumen Radev will visit the village of Pokrayna, Vidin region, on the occasion of the vine growers holiday, St. Trifon Zarezan (Trifon the Pruner), said the press office of the President.

Radev will participate in the traditional celebration of the holiday on the square in Pokrayna and will greet the residents and guests of the village. The President will take part in the ceremony of ritual cutting of vines in the vineyards between the villages of Gomotartsi and Koshava.

The head of State will be accompanied by his wife Desislava Radeva.

Vice President Iliyana Iotova will be in Suhindol, Southwestern Bulgaria, on the occasion of the municipality's holiday and the day of the vine growers. Iotova will hold a meeting with the Mayor of Suhindol municipality, Plamen Chernev, and will participate in the afternoon pruning of the vineyards in the area of Dimchanski Zavoy.

The Day of vine-growers' patron saint, St Tryfon Zarezan, has been celebrated since 1962 as a holiday of the vine-growers on the day of St. Martyr Triphon, which was then celebrated by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church on February 14. With the calendar reform of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in 1968, the day of St. Martyr Tryphon began to be celebrated on February 1 in the old style, and the Day of the vine-growers - on February 14. According to the Bulgarian custom, on the day of the holiday, farmers go out into the field and drop a few sticks, water the roots of the vine with wine and bless them. The culmination of the celebration is the election of a "King of the Vines", usually a successful farmer who is considered lucky so that during his "reign" abundant fruit will bloom.