What are the Christmas and New Year traditions preserved by Bulgarians in the village of Izvoarele in Romania?

Vladimir Mitev

Summary

The interview with Bianca Vasile, an expert on Bulgarian communities in Romania, discusses the Bulgarian community in the village of Izvoarele, Teleorman County, and their preserved Christmas and New Year traditions.

Key points about the Izvoarele community:

• Identity and History: The inhabitants are known for being very hardworking. The village, historically called Gauriciu, was formed by a mix of Romanian and Bulgarian populations, with a significant wave of Bulgarian immigrants and colonists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries from areas like Pleven, Silistra, and Plovdiv. In 1972, a linguist noted 4,000 locals, all Bulgarian, in a closed community with few mixed marriages until after 1990.
• Language and Culture: The community speaks an archaic Bulgarian, classified as the Nikopole dialect. They preserve traditional clothing, traditions, and gastronomy, including dishes like liutica (liuteniță) and ribnicul. They have successfully recreated the Babindenul and Ghermanul rituals, with Zărezanul and Lazărita being the most representative.
• Romanian Influences: While maintaining a highly preserved Bulgarian identity, particularly linguistically, they have borrowed some holidays like Drăgaica (a Romanian harvest holiday) and share Balkan traditions like Baba Marta with Romanians, Macedonians, and Serbs.

Christmas and New Year Traditions:

The winter holidays begin with house cleaning and spiritual cleansing (fasting).

• December 19: Women boil pumpkin. In the evening, people prepare a basket with straw and onions and have children “cluck” for high poultry production in the coming year.
• December 20 (St. Ignatius/Ignajdin): People avoided visiting neighbors to not “alienate” their luck with poultry. Visitors were served boiled pumpkin and asked to sit and “cluck” in the basket. This custom is unfortunately no longer practiced.
• December 24 (Christmas Eve):
  • Women make colaci (traditional sweet bread).
  • Boys go caroling (Miu) around 12:30-1:00 p.m., shouting “Miu! Miu!” and beating a trough of grains (corn, wheat, barley, etc.) with sticks for prosperity, shouting “Pi-papa, pi-papa!”
  • Groups of children walk around with the Star announcing the Birth of Christ.
  • Men catch sparrows in the evening, which women clean and hang to keep cool.
• December 25 (Christmas Day): Women go to church early to distribute sweets, bread, wine, and pieces of poultry. The family table is set with these items, a roast chicken, and the prepared sparrows. Each family member tastes the sparrow “so that the whole year would be easy.”
• December 26: The pig slaughter occurs, often with neighbors and relatives. Women serve the men boiled plum brandy. A portion of the meat, including bacon, pork rind, lung, and meat called prisnină, is distributed, particularly to those without a pig, who return salt and paprika.
• December 27: Sausages, tobă, caltaboș, and jumări are prepared, and the family celebrates.
• December 31 (New Year’s Eve): Groups of children and adults came for Plugușor (a plow-based caroling), with props like two white oxen with a plow, a decorated fir tree, an orator, and boys with whips. This is now practiced in a simpler version using only whips.
• January 1 (New Year’s Day):
  • People walk around with the sorcova (a decorated branch/stick used for health wishes) early in the morning, and children are given colaci, apples, and money.
  • After 10:00 a.m., the Goat (Sisilica) arrives, a group with a flute player, drummer, a person in a goat costume, and a “donkey” carrying bags of treats.
  • Around 2:00 p.m., large groups came with Herod carolers in national costumes, holding wooden swords. The traditional fights between two groups of Herods are no longer practiced.

Interview

History of the Bulgarian community in Izvoarele

Ms. Vasile, could you briefly describe the Bulgarian community in Izvoarele, Teleorman County? What should we know about these Bulgarians, the history of their community, and their life in contemporary Romania?

The inhabitants of Izvoarele are very hardworking and are known for this throughout the county. There is this label or even a kind of traditional cultural stereotype, if we can call it that. Because the girls were known for their household skills, many boys in the county wanted a bride from Izvoarele, and conversely, it was joked that becoming a son-in-law in Izvoarele meant working hard and was not preferable, of course!

We have a beautiful village, located in a valley, which is almost invisible if you drive on the county road leading to Zimnicea, a location that served as a refuge for Bulgarians who emigrated and formed the village more than 200 years ago. There are many stories about the village, from the brave outlaws who hid in the dense forests of Teleorman and plundered the Turks who transported taxes from the Romanian lands, to the shepherds who crossed the Danube and, seeing the abundant pastures and fertile soil, called on other Bulgarians to settle in the Gaurici Valley. In the past, the village was called Gauriciu.

The first documentary attestation dates back to 1533, and the village has been formed over hundreds of years from the Romanian and Bulgarian population, the name coming from the relief, thus resulting in the Gaurici Valley, the Gaurici stream, and the Gaurici estate being owned by many boyars. We know that in 1788 the village burned down.

We also know that the merchant Cernea Popovici from Filipopol – Plovdiv brought 82 Bulgarian families and, together with the Serbs from the spring (Izvoarele is a word, which is based on the slavic word for spring – note of the translator), the Bulgarians recorded as living on the estate when he bought it, rebuilt the village of Gauriciu with Bulgarians, immigrants, and through colonization. Thus, in 1838, there were 137 Bulgarian families, recorded as Serbs in Kiseleff’s records. The elders mention the Pleven area (Ralevo, Gabrovo), Silistra, Plovdiv – the Sofia area. So they did not come from one place.

In 1972, the famous linguist Maxim Mladenov arrived in Izvoarele and mentioned in his works that there were 4,000 locals in Gauriciu, all Bulgarians. The community was a closed one, with no mixed marriages, only sporadically during communism and more after 1990.

Today, the inhabitants of Izvoarele speak Bulgarian, an archaic Bulgarian, of course, classified by linguists as belonging to the Nikopole dialect. Ethnic Bulgarians preserve their traditional clothing in dowry chests, their coats and aprons, their traditions and gastronomy. Zărezanul and Lazărita are the most representative, but together with the women of the village, we have managed to recreate Babindenul and Ghermanul. We continue to make liuteniță, which we call liutica, and we have brought ribnicul back into the public eye, a dish that our grandmothers used to make, according to tradition, on Saint Nicholas Day.

Bulgarian traditions for Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Izvoarele

How will the Bulgarians in Izvoarele celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve? What traditions do they preserve for these holidays?

The winter holidays begin with cleaning the house and spiritual cleansing. The inhabitants of the commune fast, clean, set the tables, take out new tablecloths, and prepare their supplies.

On December 19, the women boil pumpkin. In the evening, everyone prepares a basket with straw and a few onions, which they place behind the door. Then the children are asked to “cluck” so that the poultry production will be very high in the coming year.

On December 20, St. Ignatius (Ignajdin) was celebrated. On this day, people did not visit their neighbors, because it was said that you would alienate your luck with poultry. And if someone happened to come, they were served boiled pumpkin and asked to sit down and cluck a few times in the prepared basket. After that, they were honored with a glass of wine, saying, “May our children live and be healthy!” If that person had a household rich in birds, it meant that they brought you luck. If they didn’t, they took your luck with birds.

On December 24, Christmas Eve was celebrated. The women made colaci (traditional Romanian sweet bread) in the morning for the children who, around 12:30-1:00 p.m., began to go caroling, called Miu. Only boys went to Miu, each carrying a stick decorated with red wool tassels. At the entrance to each yard, the boys shouted, “Miu! Miu!” so that people would hear them and welcome them, because the winters were cold, with heavy snow, and of course, people stayed indoors. Each farmer prepared a trough in front of his house with corn, wheat, barley, sunflower seeds, and millet (pruso), which the children beat with their sticks for prosperity, shouting: “Pi-papa, pi-papa!” The beating of the trough was meant to symbolically “crush” the grains, so that the following year’s harvest would be twice as large.

In the evening, groups of children would gather and walk around with the Star, announcing the Birth of Christ. The Star was decorated with tinsel and had a small icon of Jesus Christ in the middle.

After the men took their sons or grandsons to Miu, when they got home in the evening, they started catching sparrows. Then the women cleaned them and strung them on a long stick, placing them under the “curlată” in the kitchen, on a hook above the stove, to keep them cool.

On December 25, in the morning, the women went to church early, distributing sweets, bread, wine, and pieces of poultry.

After they returned, they set the table with what they had brought from church, a roast chicken, and the prepared sparrows. Each member of the family tasted the sparrow, “so that the whole year would be easy.”

The next day, December 26, early in the morning, water was put to boil in a large pot, knives were sharpened, and everything was ready for the slaughter of the pig. Neighbors and relatives participated in the slaughter. After the pig was slaughtered, the women served the men boiled plum brandy. I believe this is the most important practice specific to our locality. This still happens in some homes. The next day, a piece of bacon, a piece of pork rind, a piece of lung, and meat, called prisnină, were distributed. The fat on the piece of bacon showed how big the pig had been. In particular, it was distributed to those who did not have a pig, and they returned salt and paprika in a bowl.

On December 27, sausages, tobă, caltaboș, and jumări were made, and the family celebrated.

On the evening of December 31, groups of children and adults, older men, came to Plugușor. The props consisted of two white oxen with a plow and a decorated fir tree, an orator, and three boys with large whips.

On January 1, early in the morning, people walked around with the sorcova. Children were given colaci, apples, and money.

After 10:00 a.m., the Goat, called Sisilica, would arrive. The group included a person who played the flute, one who played the drum, one who played the role of the goat, and another person who represented the donkey, carrying bags with cakes, sausages, meat, a jug of wine, and one of brandy. Instead of a bag, a knapsack or turbicică was used.

Around 2:00 p.m., other large groups came with Herod. The carolers were dressed in national costumes and beaded hats, holding wooden swords in their hands. The moments when two groups of Herods met were famous: they would fight, each defending their territory. Unfortunately, this custom has not been practiced in the community for many years, nor has the practice of Ignajdin. Plugușorul is also no longer practiced as it used to be. Nowadays, the boys carol in a simpler version, using only whips.

Confluences between Izvoarele, Romanians and Bulgarians in Bulgaria

To what extent are the traditions of the Bulgarians in the village of Izvoarele influenced by the traditions of the Romanian communities in Muntenia? Do we know in which part of Bulgaria today there are similar customs for Christmas and New Year’s Eve?

First of all, I would like to point out that Izvoarele is the most preserved Bulgarian locality in Teleorman and its surroundings, along the Danube. We are even talking about linguistic insularity, if we were to take into account the specialized literature. In other words, we have preserved many elements of our identity, but especially our language. Influences are inevitable in all areas. Gastronomy has been influenced by Romanian and international cuisine, but Bulgarian and Balkan dishes are still predominantly cooked, which makes me happy.

As for holidays, we can say that we borrowed Drăgaica, the Romanian holiday celebrated on June 24, on the occasion of the wheat harvest. Being Orthodox Christians, of course the calendar holidays coincided. For example, March 1 – Baba Marta. She exists among Bulgarians, Romanians, Macedonians, and Serbs. There is a Balkan leitmotif, and that is promising.

We have best preserved the thematic holidays and rituals: Lazărita, Zărezanul. But even here, many of them are no longer practiced, only in documentary form or as a show, such as Ghermanul. I hope that future generations will like what we are doing now, that we have brought many of them back to life, and that they will be able to pass them on. During this period, we are also planning the Babinden holiday. It will be a women’s party. It will definitely be real, it will not be a show or a commemoration.

I can say that I am proud of the community in Izvoarele, with whom I have stepped on the gas to bring back to life what only the elderly still know. And people got involved, and that makes me happy.

Greeting for the holidays

Can you greet Radio Bulgaria listeners and readers in Bulgarian, as spoken in Izvoarele, for Christmas and New Year’s Eve?

Nie faf Izvoarele si urtim nasie izik naucin ut maică i taică, mamă i tatko.

Prikazvami balgarki cughi utfaami na pazara, cughi cupuvami neasto i znaim neacolcu pensni. Mlogu se radvame ce iskate da ciuite ca urtim.

Za Kolida i nuvata gudina vi izpraștam mlogu zdravi i vi ciacam faf nastu selu.

[We in Izvoarele learn our language from our mother and father. We speak Bulgarian when we go to the market, when we buy something, and we know a few songs. We are very happy that you want to hear our language. For Christmas and New Year, I send you good health and await you in our village.]

I sega na knejoven ezik! [And now in literary language!]

Много здраве и щастие! Да имате мир и любов у дома!

Весели празници и щастлива Нова година!

[Good health and happiness! May you have peace and love at home! Happy holidays and Happy New Year!]

Photo: Bulgarian traditions in Izvoarele (source: Rețetar Izvoarele, Florența Dană)

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