Saint martyr Trifon Zarezan – 1st February

Trifon Zarezan is the patron of the vine-growers, gardeners and tavern-keepers. The holiday descends from the Thracian celebrations and rituals -the Dionysius's spring celebrations.

For the holiday is kneaded a ritual bread decorated with heavy grapes of dough. The host of the house sets off for the vine yard with the rest of the men carrying the ritual bread with him in a new pouch, a boiled hen stuffed with rice, a wine vessel, holy water, and ash from the Christmas Eve's fire. When the men reach the vineyards they begin to cut the vines. The vine-grower turns to the east, makes the sign of a cross solemnly and cuts some twigs from one or three vines which he chooses from the middle of the vine massif or from the corners. With the holy water and the ash the vine-grower sprinkles the wines for fertility. At the site of the cut he pours wine and blesses with the words: "As many drops of wine, as many carts of grapes from this vine!" With the cut vine twigs the men decorate their fur caps, the wine vessels and the icons in their homes.

The men make a big dinning table in the field among the vines where everyone puts whatever they have brought. The men choose a Trifon - the king of the vine yards. The oldest man puts on the ground three cut vine twigs and a bunch of basil tied with a red thread and asks: "Who wants to become a king?" Each one can try to get the bunch but the king should be a person with luck, a rich man, so that he can treat them later, an industrious person- one respected by the others. His vineyard must have given the biggest yield in the previous year. After a king is chosen a man hides among the vines and asks: "Trifon, can you see me?" and the king answers: "May I not see you at all during autumn from the heavy grape clusters". On their way back from the vineyards the men carry their king on their shoulders or tow him on a cart. On his head there is a crown of vine leaves and in his hands he holds an icon of "Saint Trifon". The male group goes round the houses of the village where they are welcomed with red wine. The king drinks first and after that all the others. Sip by sip, blessing by blessing until they are all a little bit drunk. The celebrations end in the king's home. If they are not well-drunk it is believed that the fertility will not be good.

The vine and the wine have been symbols of fertility, youth and eternal life since ancient times. The vine twig is a distinctive mark of Dionysius. At every sacrifice there has been used wine. The Bulgarian people cherish and respect the wine just as much as bread. Before drinking from the wine the Bulgarians used to make the sign of a cross. The tradition has it that wine is drunk before the newly weds enter their new home so that they live in peace and love; before the birth of a baby so that the mother can give the birth easily; wine is also poured over graves to appease the land. The wine is thought to be the God's blood.

trifon-zarezan-v-ivaylovgrad (1)

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