Bango Vasil, Bango Vasili, Bango Vasil (Vasilyovden), also called Vasilitsa, is the biggest Roma holiday. This is the Roma New Year.
Traditionally, the Roma holiday is celebrated for three days - from January 13th to 15th. January 14th is the culmination - this is the most important day of the series. It is believed that the first guest in the house is of the greatest importance, because the kind of person who first crosses the threshold of the home will be the same throughout the New Year.
Vasilytsa is celebrated as the beginning of the New Year by many Roma groups in Bulgaria, and for several years also as a day of Roma culture. The celebration of Vasilitsa is connected with a legend that Saint Basil, the advocate and protector of the Roma, restored the bridge over which the Roma crossed after this bridge was destroyed by the Devil and thus saved them.
On the evening of January 13th to 14th, the Christian rituals of Christmas Eve are repeated - the whole family gathers at home, the mother cooks a bird with rice or sauerkraut. While she prepares it, she is silent. In every house, banitsa and baklava are baked, the young women clean the house and polish the dishes, everything must shine with cleanliness. They also make sarmi. When everything is ready, they put the table on the floor in the middle of the room, and arrange the bread and dishes. They light candles, the younger ones kiss the hands of the older ones and ask for forgiveness. The owner breaks the loaf, which contains a gold coin, kept and passed down from the father to the firstborn son. Only then do they sit around the table. They eat, drink, play, and have fun.
In the middle of the night, Bango Vasil arrives, who has traveled for three days and has faced great difficulties on the way. That is why he is wounded, bearded, and tired. He is usually large, loud, skillful, and generous. He has a good word for everyone, wishes luck and health, happiness to the elderly, and gives gifts to the children.
On Vasilitsa in the morning, children go around the neighbors' houses and pray for health, well-being, luck, and fertility. It is believed that happiness and luck depend on their blessing and "light foot", writes BGNES.