Bulgarians celebrate "Sirni Zagovezni", a popular Christian Orthodox holiday in Bulgaria, which takes place seven weeks before Easter and marks the beginning of the Great Lent, the longest period of fasting throughout the year.

According to the ancient Christian tradition on that day people beg each other forgiveness for their wrong-doings during the year. Usually the younger ask the older for forgiveness and are also asked to forgive on the part of their parents, relatives, friends or just the people they live or work with.

In the past a special custom was being performed in the evening. A piece of halvah was tied on a long thread, hanging from the ceiling (a hard-boiled egg or some coal is an alternative). The thread is swayed around in a circle and the participants keep on trying to catch the lump in their mouth.

The Bulgarian villages have preserved the "Kukeri" ritual, in which the masked Kukeri dance in the last days of the winter, just before nature comes back to life. The participants in this ritual are male only, dressed in sheepskin garments and wearing scary masks and chanove (copper bells) on their belts, dancing and singing songs and chants, with the intention to scare away the evil spirits or ghosts which people believed came back to the living ones in winter.

Bulgaria's Patriarch Maxim served a special mass on the occasion in St. Sofia church Sunday evening.

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