/ world today news/ Five days before Christmas – on December 20, we honor Saint Ignatius the God-bearer. With this holiday, the Christmas holidays begin.
Ignatius the God-bearer is the second bishop of the Church of Antioch, if one does not count its founder, the apostle Peter, and a representative of the generation of Apostolic men. He is also known as a disciple of St. Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. His nickname the God-bearer is connected with a tradition that dates back to St. Simeon Metaphrastus (10th century), according to which St. Ignatius was the child pointed out and embraced by Jesus Christ when the apostles argued about primacy (Matt. 18:1-5 ).
St. Ignatius was “a man apostolic in everything” who “carefully governed the Church in Antioch” – especially during the persecution under Emperor Domitian (81-96). St. Ignatius ended his life by martyrdom in Rome.
In Eastern Bulgaria, Ignazhden is the first Christmas dinner. The meal is entirely lean. The holiday is associated with the winter solstice and is considered the beginning of the New Year. It is also called Young Year, New Day, Young Month, Polaz or Polazovden.
The most characteristic of the holiday is the custom of “playing”. From who will enter Ignazhden’s house first, one can guess what the next year will be like. If the “benefit” is good, then there will be prosperity and success in everything in the house throughout the year. When the groom enters the yard, he greets the new year and before entering the house he takes a stick from the tree. With it, he stirs the hearth and wishes: “As many sparks, as many kids (lambs, calves, horses…)”.
In many villages the pilgrim first sits down on the sticks or straw he has brought and sits there for some time. This is done so that the heifers will be confused during the year and suitors will come sooner, i.e. boys for the girls. On this day, whoever among the owners leaves the house first, must bring sticks when he returns, which he places behind the door. The farmers then knead dough for cakes. They tear off a little of the kneaded dough and make a cross out of it on a beam – to ward off all evil. They make as many cakes as there are family members.
There are several beliefs about this day: If the weather is clear on Ignazhden, there will be a drought in April; If it rains, there will be rains and fertility in April; It is good if it snows on Epiphany and also on Christmas.
If on Ignazhden the weather is cloudy, the harvest will be good and there will be abundance in the beehives; The weather during the next 12 days of the month – from December 20 to 31 – shows the weather during the 12 months of the coming year. December 20 determines what the weather will be like in January. Another superstition is that nothing should be taken out of the house – especially fire, embers or salt – so that the blessing does not come out, and nothing should be borrowed or borrowed.
Do not get up from the table while eating, because the hens will not brood. You don’t go out into the yard to make the hens fuss anymore. Do not sew or knit, so that the intestines of the hens do not get tangled and they lay. Don’t boil beans to avoid hail. Do not wash to prevent disease. It is not good if a child is conceived on Ignazhden, because it will be born with a disability. Pregnant and nulliparous women do not have to work to give birth easily. They have a name day: Ignat, Ignatka, Iskra, Iskren, Plamen, Flamena, Ognyan, Ognyana, Svetla.
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