St. Simeon’s Day (September 1st)

The Christian feast in honour of St. Simeon the Stylite is popular in Bulgaria also as Simeon the Ploughman and New Agricultural Year, as it marks the beginning of the autumn ploughing and sowing. According to the saint’s passional the Reverend Simeon the Stylite was born in 357 in Asia Minor. Gentle and humble, he wanted to live completely out of people’s eyes, so he built a stone tower 40 cubits high. He went living in a small cell at the top of it and for that reason was called the Stylite. He died there at the age of 103. As a beginning of the new farming year, St. Simeon’s day is first and foremost an agricultural feast. On the eve of the feast farmers take the sowing seeds to the church for consecration. They put a blade of basil and a red thread with paprika, fruits, walnuts and silver coins strung on it in the seed-corn. The tradition enjoins nothing to be brought out from the house and nothing to be lent on St. Simeon’s day. This prohibition is strictly observed so that “the rich harvest is not leaving the house”. Since the thrashing down and the picking up of the walnuts usually begin on St. Simeon’s day, the feast is also often called Simeon the Thrasher.