Palm Sunday

The Sunday of the Long Lent. The Palm Sunday (Willow’s day) is celebrated on the first Sunday after Lazar’s day. This is one of the 12 big holidays of Orthodoxy. On this day, the Christian church celebrates the Entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem. This is the first day of the Passionate Sunday, connected with suffer. For first time it was celebrated in Jerusalem in ІV century. On Palm Sunday the Bulgarian Christians go to church with willow twigs. After the twigs are inaugurated we deck the home icons and portraits with them. They must be kept even after they wither. Women keep them for cure against fear and sickness. Part of Palm Sunday traditions is the so-called “Kumichane”. The girls go together to the near-by river with wreaths, willow twigs and “dolls” made of dough covered with “mesal”. They throw the willow wreaths into the water. The one at front of all determines who will be the “kumichka”. She invites all her friends at the feast the next Sunday. They must carry a loaf, a hen, an Easter cake and red eggs. According to the tradition pieces of the “dolls” tided to a stick are also thrown, and the first emerged is the one of the girl-“kumichka”.
On this day, everyone named after flowers, plants, bushes and trees, celebrate their name day.