This year, on April 27, we celebrate Lazarus Day, which is always on the penultimate Saturday before Easter.
Traditionally, green willow branches are plucked on Lazarov’s Day, which will decorate the doors the next day – Vrabnitsa (Flower).
Lazarovden or Lazarnitsa is a Christian holiday named after Saint Lazarus. In the New Testament, Lazarus is a disciple of Christ and the brother of Martha and Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus brought out of the grave and brought back to life. According to tradition, Lazarus lived another 30 years and died as a bishop of the city of Kiton (Cyprus island). The very name of the saint is a symbol of health and longevity.
On this day, the custom of lazaration and funeral rites are performed. According to beliefs in North-Eastern Bulgaria, on Vrabnitsa they “dissolve, release the dead” from the graves. To show their respect for them, the Lazarus Stew is arranged. On the eve of Lazarov’s Day, women go to the cemetery, pour wine over the graves of their loved ones, and distribute rangelo kravai, wheat, for their souls. That evening or on Lazarov’s Day, each housewife distributes small prosphora in the village according to the number of deceased, but always an odd number. Belief in the release of the dead also gives rise to the lighting of fire at the graves, which takes place before sunrise on Vrabnitsa. Girls and women take part in the lazaru, who start cooking already from Lent, are grouped by age and sect. In the flock there are songbirds, walkers, one of the lazarkas carries a basket of eggs. They walk around the village on Saturday from noon and Sunday until noon, entering each house, singing a song for each member of the family. They play an open Lazarus dance. The owners give them eggs. When the lazaring is finished, the lazars share what they have collected.
In the Bulgarian tradition, Lazarovden is a celebration of the fields, pastures and forests, but also a celebration of the girls who, after the Lazarov, can publicly groom themselves, dress and behave in such a way that the bachelors like them, have a lover, and get married. The day is also called Lazarova Saturday, Lazaritsa, Lazarus. Three ceremonial rituals are associated with it – lazaration, choosing a bridegroom and boenek. All three are connected with the transition to virginity, with love and domestication.
The Easter celebration begins on Lazarus Saturday. During the St. Liturgy on Lazarus Day, the Church glorifies Christ as Resurrection and Life, who even before His sufferings and death, with the resurrection of Lazarus, established the prototype of the universal resurrection of humanity. It was precisely because of the resurrection of Lazarus that Christ was glorified by the people as the long-awaited Messiah, the King of Israel, as a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.
At the vespers before the Feast of the Lord’s Entry into Jerusalem (Cvetsalnitsa, Vrabnitsa, Vaia), prophecies about the King-Messiah from the Old Testament are read together with the Gospel accounts of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.
On Palm Sunday, during matins, willow branches are blessed and distributed to worshippers. We hold branches in our hands during the entire Liturgy and thus show that we, like the ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem, welcome Jesus Christ as King and Savior.
Lazarov’s name day is celebrated by: Lazar, Lazo, Lacho, Lachezar.
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