Enyova bulya

Enyovden – Enyo’s day

Enyovden is a folk festival, which is being celebrated on the 24th of June – the day of solstice, also considered as the Christian holiday of St. John the Baptist. In the basis of the celebration is implicated a pagan cult towards the sun and thundering.
The custom Enyova bulya (Enyo’s bride) is performed on Enyovden, which is nowadays preserved in the western region of Strandja Mountains, in particular the villages Fakia and Momina curkva.

Enyova bulya - Enyo’s bride

On Enyovden all girls of the village gather together in a house, where they dress up a young girl in a bridal garment – long white shirt and red topcoat called "kavat". They cover her with a red veil and put on her forehead a silver coin and a wreath made of the flower enyovche.
One of the strong maids takes the little girl over her shoulders and followed by the whole procession they go round the village, fields, gardens, wells and fountains. During this time they are singing about St. Enyo seeking his blessings for health and fertility.
After visiting each and every place in the village, the crowd takes the little girl back to the house, where she got dressed as Enyo’s bride. Here begins chanting over the maiden posies. They were collected by the maids on the day before the celebrations and had been put in to white vessel standing under the rose during the night, so the stars can witness their beauty.
Enyo’s bride has to pull out each posy separately. In this time the girls gathered around the little girl chant predictions on the future groom of the maid, whose posy was taken out of the vessel.
After the ritual is over, the maids wash the little girl’s face, dress her in brand new clothes and send her back to her mother.

[url=/uploads/old/Enjova_bulja.pdf]Traditionelle bulgarische Bräuche - Enjova bulja (Deutsche Version herunterladen)[/url]