The Christmas season starts in Bulgaria on the 15th of November with 40 days of fasting leading up to Christmas. During these forty days people abstain from eating meat, dairy and eggs. Bulgarians are Orthodox Christians but have adopted the Gregorian Calendar and therefore celebrate Christmas at the same time as the majority of the world.

The big Christmas event in Bulgaria is dinner on Christmas Eve, Budni Vecher where immediate family celebrates with a vegetarian feast. Ideally a round table is set with an odd number of dishes i.e. 7, 9 or 11. Rich heavy foods are avoided and the menu may seem humble to some.

Typical foods include bean soup; cabbage leaves stuffed with rice; vine leaves stuffed with mushrooms, onions and rice; dried peppers stuffed with rice or beans; boiled bulgar wheat with sugar and walnuts; and turshia (mix of pickled cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and parsley marinated in vinegar for a few weeks starting in November).

Dessert includes pumpkin strudel, fruit and nuts and a fruit compote. In the weeks leading up to Christmas Medenki are also baked and enjoyed. These are cookies made with honey, walnuts and cinnamon.

A traditional bread called a Pita is an essential element of the Christmas meal. The Pita is baked with a coin in the dough and whoever gets the coin should have good luck or the most money in the coming year.

The dinner table is not cleared until the morning so that the ghosts of ancestors or Grandfather Frost can find something to eat in the night.

The Christmas tree was traditionally only decorated on the 24th of December,  but this is now occurring earlier. Harking back to Socialist times of scarcity, children would collect the foil from chocolates and smooth out all the wrinkles, then use it to wrap walnuts to hang on the tree. Garlands of popcorn, and garlands of prunes were strung on the tree. Kolaks (small round bread similar to a bagel) were and are still used as decorations. Glass ornaments are also popular with a glass tree topper adding the finishing touch

After dinner the children head for bed early in anticipation of Grandfather Christmas (Dyado Koleda). In Socialist times the whole celebration was celebrated on New Year’s Eve, but has now reverted to Christmas dates.

The 25th, 26th and 27th are public holidays and people spend the time visiting friends and relatives. On the 25th the fast is broken, most often with a hearty pork dish. A regional but popular dish is a casserole of layered cabbage leaves, pork, chicken and sausage. This heavy meal is often enjoyed with the extended family where gifts are also exchanged.

An essential part of Christmas is to receive a visit from the Koledari. These are carol singers that go from house to house dressed in traditional clothing singing Christmas carols about the birth of Jesus. They sing songs and bless each house. The songs are in two parts with half singing and half repeating back. As a thank you they are given bagel shape bread called Kolaks which they collect on the long staffs that they carry with them.

There is a saying that Christmas is for Family and New Year is for Friends.

So friends will traditionally meet for New Years’ dinner in someone’s home or in a restaurant and fireworks are set off at midnight. 

On New Year’s Day children head enthusiastically to their grandparents’ or neighbours’ homes to perform a ritual called Survakari. They recite a traditional poem that brings luck for the new year, then using a ‘Surovachka’ they will tap the adults on the back to bring good luck and prosperity in the coming year. The Surovachka is prepared a few days in advance (or used from previous years) and is typically the branch of a fruit tree decorated with ribbons, popcorn, dried fruit and kolaks (mini bagels). The children are always keen to follow this tradition because they receive money in return.