site.btaSpring Awakening, Youth and Love Are Celebrated on Lazarus Saturday in Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, St Lazarus's Day is celebrated on the sixth Saturday of Lent, eight days before the Orthodox Easter. In 2024 it falls on April 27. 

The church feast commemorates the raising from the dead of Lazarus of Bethany by Jesus Christ six days before the Passover, ahead of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

An old Bulgarian initiation rite for young girls called Lazaruvane is performed on Lazarus Saturday. It epitomizes the spring awakening of nature to a new life after a frosty winter.

The celebrants, called Lazarki, are girls aged 16 or older who go round all houses in the village in groups of eight, ten or twelve. Festively dressed and wearing wreaths of flowers on their heads, the girls sing songs for each household member, wishing them health, happiness and fertility. The group is led by a Kumitsa, who is the most prominent girl in the village. While the Lazarki sing and dance, the Kumitsa approaches the housewife, places a towel on her right shoulder, and receives in return white eggs, walnuts and small coins. The Kumitsa instructs the girls what songs to sing in each house. She also leads the famous Lazarki dance - an open horo which is commonly performed in the village square.

In some parts of the country, as the final element of the ritual, the girls put their wreaths on a wooden paddle. A bachelor takes the paddle and sinks it in the river. The girl whose wreath floats first will be the one who will get married ahead of all the rest.

Elsewhere, on the eve of Lazarus Saturday, each Lazarka puts a bracelet, a ring, a flower or another special token in a pot. The pot is left under a blossoming rose during the night. In the morning, a specially selected girl takes the tokens out one by one and predicts to its owner what man she will marry.

According to popular belief, a girl cannot get married unless she has participated in the Lazaruvane ritual.