Today is St. Theodore's Day (Todorovden in Bulgarian). The holiday is always celebrated on the first Saturday of Lent or Easter Lent. On this day the Orthodox Church honors the Holy Great Martyr Theodore Tiron.

The holiday is also known by the names Todorova Saturday, Horse Easter, Tudoritsa. The rituals typical for this day, which our ancestors performed in order for the horses to be healthy and fertile, will be recreated today in the architectural-historical reserve “Bozhentsi” near Gabrovo.

The Balkan people celebrated the holiday and performed customs for the health and fertility of the horses, which ensured their livelihood.

On this day the owner gets up early, combs the horse, braids his mane and tail and decorates them with red threads and tassels, and garlic cloves against evil spirits. The women knead ritual bread decorated with a horseshoe made of dough.

In the Gabrovo region on St. Theodore’s Day, a long-standing tradition is celebrated - relatives and friends bring cows to the home of young brides who got married last year. Only after that day did the elders of the family begin to call them “nevesti” (another word for brides in Bulgaria).

Saint Theodore Tiron was a Roman soldier who opposed the campaign of Emperor Julian the Apostate to force Christians to perform pagan sacrifices, for which he was sentenced to death.

According to legend, he appeared before the Archbishop of Constantinople Eudoxius to inform him of the ruler's order to mock the food of the faithful during Easter Lent, instructing him to warn people not to take any food from the market. Wheat to be their food, because Emperor Julian ordered the mayor of Constantinople to secretly sprinkle blood on all lean foods on the market, and Christians to eat to defile themselves and be declared pagans. To commemorate what happened, wheat is boiled, which is blessed during the service in the temple.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p/m/ the traffic of bus number 100 in the capital will change in the direction of the Benkovski district due to the celebrations for Saint Theodore's Day on the square in the district, in which representatives of the Sofia Horse Police and Georgi Benkovski National Community Center will take part.

Name day celebrate: Todor, Todorka, Teodor, Teodora, Toshko, Bozhidar, Teya, Tea, Theodore, Teddy, Ted

/BNR

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