Easter Traditions in Bulgaria

@Jules999

Hi

Most Bulgarians are not religious. The like to follow traditions!

My neighbours will be having a lamb barbeque, and she makes the most amazing козунак

I think the different colours and patterns on the eggs have different meanings, but haven't been able to find much about that. https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-bulga … er-1135761

@janemulberry

Thanks for the link Jane, very interesting.

The "Bulgarian" Easter customs arrived here, along with Eastern Orthodoxy, from Greece.  Apparently, some 71% of Bulgarians self-identify as Orthodox Christians, and 10.8% as Muslims; I suspect that it's along the lines of people in the UK ticking the "CofE" box without actually being churchgoers, or even believers.

Many of the Orthodox clergy here have a sideline as "businessmen", and some are total headcases*.  One family friend, Otet Ivan, (his real name ) was one such businessman.  I never inquired exactly what line of work his sideline encompassed, but it kept him in some style, with a shiny new German 4x4 every year. He was married, with a mistress on the side, and had a taste for expensive imported booze; that taste finished him off a while back.  It turned out that he was something of an ecclesiastical big-shot and had a very fancy sending-off.  Amusingly (if you share my somewhat warped sense of humour) three of his fellow-priests were killed on the way to his funeral when the shiny black German SUV they were travelling in, way above the speed-limit, came off the motorway and was totalled - I guess he didn't want to cross the Styx on his own.  I rather miss him, he was always an interesting and amusing guy to talk to.

*Just as a sample: a while ago (actually it only seems like that, the news media tell me that it was in fact 16 years ago) the Abbot of Glozhene Monastery was arrested after opening fire on two guests at the monastery after the three of them indulged in a marathon drinking-spree; he then attempted to burn the whole monastery down and went on the run, in - you guessed it - his shiny German 4x4. Later reports surfaced about a beautiful young woman who was taken in by the Abbot "because she had nowhere else to go"; funnily enough, it transpired that she didn't even need her own bedroom in the all-male monastery....   Christian Charity is truly a wonderful thing!  I won't bore you with all the gory details but suffice it to say that he ended up doing a three-year stretch, and the police investigation discovered that his other hobbies included beating up his assistant, taking drugs, watching porn (while he was "comforting" the aforementioned fallen woman and alone), embezzlement, fraud, illegal property sales et al.  He never disclosed the source of his illegal weapon, and the media were encouraged to play that aspect down - the shell casings initially found by Plodski were unaccountably "lost".

Shortly after his release from prison, a video appeared on the Internet purportedly showing the new abbot (his erstwhile assistant) pole-dancing and belly-dancing; the former abbot was accused of manufacturing this video, but the cops got bored with the investigation, and it subsequently was taken down by persons unknown....

Punch "Дядо Панкратий игумена на Гложенски манастир" into Google if you want more info

@JimJ

Nothing to do with Easter traditions, but I think the things you commented on are why my neighbour was so upset when the Patriarch died. She and a few other Bulgarians discussing it the next morning were sadly of the opinion that none of the potential successors were honest men or fit to be head of the church.

@janemulberry

It's indeed an interesting conundrum: who is "fit" to run a 2,000 year old Ponzi scheme cum confidence trick? And if someone is REALLY qualified for the job, why would anybody in their right mind want him anywhere near the levers of power over the gullible? Isn't that the province of our politicians?

Sadly, fallen and fallible humans will always find a way to twist the most beautiful truth to their own advantage. I believe in the Way, the Truth, and the Light. The church as man has made it, not so much (any church).

@janemulberry

I hope we can agree to differ on this particular subject without rancour - and I am sorry if my previous post caused any hurt feelings; that was not my intention, although it does encapsulate my own particular belief on the subject.  I don't think that the regular beatings from my clerical housemaster that I earned at boarding school influenced them, but who knows...

You'll have gathered that I do find the antics of our Spiritual Leaders rather amusing, but the neighbours to the south are clear winners in this field, as the following newspaper extract from several years ago reveals:

"Sex and fraud woe for Greek church

Embattled Orthodox archbishop calls emergency meeting and asks for forgiveness over lurid claims

Greece's Orthodox church, buffeted by sex and corruption scandals, met in emergency session yesterday amid lurid claims that have included a newspaper and a TV station publishing photographs of a 91-year-old bishop naked in bed with a nubile young woman.

Scrambling to resolve the worst crisis in the church's modern history, the embattled spiritual leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, convened the rare meeting as allegations of skulduggery, sexual improprieties, trial rigging, drug and antiquities smuggling engulfed the institution.

Snatched tape-recordings, aired nightly, have revealed rampant homosexuality among senior clerics who, unlike ordinary priests, are under oaths of chastity.

The alleged debauchery has not been limited to monastic cells. Last week, claims emerged that Metropolitan Theoklitos of Thessaly, a leading churchman, had been arrested on suspicion of heroin and cocaine dealing in a police raid on a notorious nightclub in Athens.

The priest was reportedly rounded up with Seraphim Koulousousas, the archbishop's former private secretary, also implicated in another "unholy affair" involving gay sex with a bishop.

In a setback for Archbishop Christodoulos, Mr Koulousousas announced this week that he was leaving the church to embark on a career as a fashion designer in Paris.

Metropolitan Panteleimon of Attica, who headed Greece's richest diocese, was withdrawn from duties after allegations of "lewd exchanges with young men" and charges that he had embezzled around €4.4m (£3m) for "his old age."

The bishop is one of several eminent priests whose names have been linked in a widening trial-fixing and corruption scandal involving at least 20 judges currently under investigation.

Earlier this month, Archimandrite Iakovos Giosakis was also suspended after being charged with antiquities smuggling following the disappearance of valuable icons from his former diocese.

Although Archbishop Christodoulos appeared unusually contrite, he stopped short of chastising his own role in the growing furore.  In yet another embarrassing twist, the fiery leader has been accused of procuring the services of a convicted heroin smuggler, Apostolos Vavylis, to help elect a favoured cleric to the post of patriarch of Jerusalem."

Oh my goodness!  If a novelist wrote this stuff it would be condemned as too far-fetched and yet I have no doubt it's true.

My hubby went to a similar school to yours, and it had a similar result on him.

I don't confuse the Man with the bad things people do in His name. Unfortunately, there are so many people doing bad things in His name, it's hard to see past them.

@janemulberry

Yeah it's a far cry from Don Camillo, isn't it? However, in real life I fear that the "Italian Connection" has more to do with Roberto Calvi ("God's Banker") who you may recall spent some time hanging around in London in the early 1980s....

I suspect so.

Честит Великден everyone! Христос воскресе!

And the same to you, Jane - although I'm afraid I can't stretch to "Воистину воскресе."

We're basking outside in the sun for Easter Monday brekkie, bashing eggs and scoffing chocolate bunnies (not simultaneously )

We'll be on the road back to Sofia shortly, thank goodness - lamb and toasties are delicious but a tad too greasy for my cholesterol-avoiding diet nowadays...