Thirty babies, aged up to a year, joined the competition for the fastest crawl in Bulgaria’s second-biggest town of Plovdiv. The neck-to-neck race hailed the nation-wide festivities when Bulgarians pay tribute to midwives. Photo by BTA
With a variety of colourful rituals, Bulgaria marks the day of midwives Saturday on the so-called Babinden.
Traditions have it that early in the morning the midwives visit the children they have delivered, and wash their faces with water. Then the mother of the child helps the midwife wash her hands and gives her a bar of soap and a towel as a gift.
In the evening, all midwifes sit down to a generous table. Men are not allowed to join the festivities and hardly would dare anyone breach the rule.
The same festivities are traditionally organized in Bulgaria on January 8, which is the Gregorian calendar date for paying tribute to midwives.