Bulgarians Celebrate Saint Theodore’s Day (Horse Easter)
The Saturday after Shrovetide (Sirni Zagovezni) is Saint Theodore's Day (Todorovden). This year the changeable in date Christian holiday is celebrated on March 4
A bizarre ritual exists in a tiny and remote southeastern Bulgarian village:
A dog is suspended above water on a rope, then turned repeatedly in a given direction to wind the rope, then released so that it spins rapidly in the opposite direction as the rope unwinds, until the dog falls into the water.
And it is supposed to prevent rabies.
Provided this year's ritual dog spinning planned for Saturday is not stopped by NGOs, here is what kind of idiotic comments will most likely appear in forums across the world:
"These Bulgarians are barbarians! Let's nuke them!"
(Yes, all Bulgarians are terrible and torturing dogs is their national hobby. Besides, what better way to fight against animal cruelty than to inspire violence?)
"This is the most terrible thing I have ever seen!"
(We have all seen disturbing images of wars and massacres, but some of us are apparently more prone to witnessing frightened dogs.)
The ritual will hopefully die out, as it is cruel and unnecessary (in was only renewed in 2011 because of the FMD outbreak near in the Brodilovo region.) I hope that just some of the Internet stupidity will die out, too.
On a different note, I also hope that Bulgaria's sick and impoverished people will receive at least as much media attention as this particular topic.
If we look at history, there are not many cases in which relations between Bulgaria and Russia at the state level were as bad as they are at the moment.
The term “Iron Curtain” was not coined by Winston Churchill, but it was he who turned it into one of the symbols of the latter part of the twentieth century by using it in his famous Fulton speech of 1946.
Hardly anything could be said in defense of the new government's ideological profile, which is quite blurry; at the same time much can be disputed about its future "pro-European" stance.
Look who is lurking again behind the corner – the tandem of Advent International and Deutsche Bank, respectively the buyer of the Bulgarian Telecom Company in 2004 and the advisor of the Bulgarian government in the sweetest deal of the past decade, seem t
We have seen many times this circus which is being played out during the entire week and it only shows one thing - there is no need of a caretaker government in Bulgaria.
You have certainly noticed how many times President Rosen Plevneliev used the phrase “a broad-minded person” referring to almost every member of his caretaker government.
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