m0rd0r's bl0g

Saint George's icon

Saint George is a martyr of the Christian faith. He was a soldier in Roman army under the emperor Diocletian. Born around year 280 in the province of Cappadocia and was given the title of Trtibune at his late 20.
He is one of the most revered saint in the Eastern Orthodox church. The myths of the Saint George and the Dragon is one of the main motives in every Icon painted by the craftsmen of the Church. That’s of course a myth. St. George falls protecting his beliefs, being killed by the Emperor’s praetorians.

Anyway. We are not that religious to dive in depth. Actually, this holiday is more in tradition than in religion.

On St. George’s day for a first time in the new year, our grand mothers were making a cheese from sheep milk. It was important not to make the cheese with salt, so the sheep’s milk will not dry. The whole chunk of cheese is covered with cloves of freshly grown herbs. The morning, every home’s front door is decorated with blossomed fruit branch, so the spring’s force and healthiness to be transferred to the home’s inhabitants. On the same day the old women made “magics” with thorn branches to banish the evil from the home like garlic, hawthorn, blackberry or nettle.

The most important thing, almost every family is doing at this holiday is buying big piece of lamb meat. Tradition says, this should be the first male Lamb born in the new year. On his head is put а floral wreath and on his right horn is attached a small lit candle just before the Sacrificial slaughter (sorry, can’t find softer words). Before the sacrifice, the Lamb is fed with fresh grass and herbs. The blood is then splattered to the eastern wall of the house and the rest of it is burried beside the house on clean spot over which is not allowed to be stepped.

Funny, eh?! 😀 Supposed to be Christian holiday, but we Bulgarians are such Pagans and Wiccans.

But don’t worry about us. We are not savages. This holiday is for the family after all. There is big ritual bread baked especially for the evening. Kurban (Курбан) which is a kind of Sacrificial rite soup. Roasted lamb. Often some kind of stew, and of course red wine and sweets for the children.

It is also the holiday of our Army. All the soldiers are allowed to drink … one beer.

Everyone having name connected with St. George is having name day. Apparently, that name is one of the most popular ones in Bulgaria.

• Georgi (Георги)
• Gergana (Гергана)
• Gerry (Гери)
• Ginka (Гинка)
• Galya (Галя)
• Ganka (Ганка)
• Gancho (Ганчо)
• … and many others

St. George day in Bulgaria is always on 6-th of May.

IMNSHO that’s the most pretty thing you can do with a food 😉 – just follow this Google images link -> click!

The most ordinary ones are the plain painted eggs with just one color. There always must be red ones. The orthodox Bulgarian church associates this color with the blood of Christ. So if you are to paint Eggs – make at least few with bright red color.

There are some nice techniques used in some villages as the city of Ihtiman to make lines and figures with wax before painting the eggs and after that to melt the wax with candle. The figures showing after melting are with the original egg color. And if you are good with a small brush – light some wide candle, wait a bit for the wax to melt and start making pretty eggs. Your friends will be amazed.

There are also various applications of pre-made small pictures the kids will readily stick on the eggs while helping you with the boiling and painting. It’s a family holiday after all. Let them 😉

Anyway. It’s “Great Thursday” as we call it (Велики четвъртък) and is the last day you are allowed to do this Egg painting, so grab the brush, melt the candle and dissolve the paint 😉

Some tricks and experience from my kitchen:

• If you want to be sure, there will be no cracked eggs while boiling, always use medium or low hot plate.
• Never put the pot with the eggs over a pre-heated hot plate.
• Always use cold water and let it heat slowly.
• Put some old paper  into the pot and put the eggs over the paper. This way the hotplate will  not heat the egg surface directly.
• Always make hard boiled eggs for painting.
• Always clean and dry the eggs before painting.
• If the original egg color is too dark put it for 20 seconds in a glass of vinegar. It will whiten and will be easier for peeling later.
• Using this method also makes sure there are no residual germs over the egg’s surface.
• Use egg paint from known source and prefer bio-paints instead of chemical ones. There are some chemical blue paints that include Cyanide (imagine you kids touching that)
• Shake the eggs beside your ear before boiling. If there is gurgling sound – don’t use them.