ABOUT TRIFON’S DAY
Name day for: Trifon, Trifonka.
Ceremonial table: boiled chicken, baked flat sausages, omelet, freshly baked bread, cheese cake.
On February 1 the Orthodox Church celebrates and honors St. Trifon – one of the most glorified saint-healers, who lived in the III century AD. The 17 year-old Trifon healed the daughter of the Roman Emperor Gordian and in doing so gained great glory and respect.
Trifon’s Day also known as Trifon Zarezan, Zarezan’s Day, Trifun Chipia, Trifun Zarezoy and Trifun Drunkard, is a holiday of the vine-growers, tavern-keepers and gardeners, who are protected by the saint-healer Trifon.
Early in the morning on the very day the housewife in the house kneads and bakes rite bread, which in some parts of Bulgaria is even decorated with a vine-leaf. After that she boils a chicken, roasts it and then fills a wine vessel with wine. The housewife places all this in a new or clean woolen bag together with a bottle of holy water from the church.
With the bag over his shoulder the master of the house joins the rest of the men from the village and starts for his vineyard. Once all men have reached their vine gardens they perform the main and most important rite for the day – the cutting of the vines. They face the rising sun, make the sign of the cross over themselves and cut some sticks from one or three vines either from the center of the garden or from its corners, they then pour wine over the cut vines and whisper a blessing: “The more wine drops, the more grapes”. The men sprinkle the vines with holy water for fertility and protection from hailstorms and other natural disasters. They collect the vine sticks they have cut and make wreaths out of them. Some put these wreaths over their caps, shoulders or wine vessels, others take them home and place them in front of the house icon of the Saint.
After the vine cutting ritual the men get together and lay a festive table in the vineyards. In some regions of Bulgaria the men choose a king of the vines or Trifon before the merriment begins. Every man can become a king if he wants to, he only needs to have been a good and prosperous owner all through the past year. The king offers a wine vessel full of wine and whispers a blessing: “To each vine a quarter of bushel, from each vine a tub”. The other men carry the king to the village. Upon their return in the village they visit all neighboring houses. The hosts first give the king wine to drink and then treat the others in the party. The hosts pour what is left from the wine in the wine vessel over Trifon with the blessing: “May we have a rich harvest, may the wine pour in abundance”. The holiday ends with a feast in the house of the king, who treats his guests with wine. The festive rituality of Trifon’s Day includes many magic activities and practices.
According to the Church calendar the Wolf’s holidays start on Trifon’s Day.
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