On October 14, the Orthodox Christian Church celebrates the day of Pre similar to Parackeva or Petka Bulgarian.
However, this day is still called Winter Friday and in Bulgarian beliefs it marks the transition to winter. The day is considered returned, and in this sense, on Friday, in some regions, the custom of “used” is observed. Next to him, what kind of person first steps into your house determines the home and health throughout the year.
The traditions and celebrations of Bulgarians on this day have pre-Christian traces of agricultural cults. Their roots date back to the era when agriculture gave a new perspective on human life, and the fertility of the earth, personified by the woman, took its place your life. Holy Friday is considered the protector of the home and family.
From Friday, the celebrations of engagements and weddings begin, because in folk beliefs the flower is the patron saint of birth and fertility, both for humans and animals. Friday marks the end of agricultural work – the last price reading, the harvest. By then, the agricultural work must be finished, that's why the people say “On Friday, let your plow be under the roof”.
If on Friday the branches warm, the leaves of the trees do not fall off, and the sheep gather in one ball - the winter will be hard and gentle.
The day is also celebrated by shepherds – On Fridays, the goats shoot at the sheep, and the shepherd's cat is given a pie that night.
From then until Dimitrovden (October 26), while the fertilization of the domestic cattle takes place, the women should not work with wool, and the scissors tie a red thread – “so as not to open the mouth of the wolf”, also to knit, so as not to entwine the entrails of the lamb. The women who do not keep the commandment, who believes that they are punished by the Holy Five – in the form of a snake or a sugar woman who wants to kill them. It is believed that if a person wears a garment sewn on the days between Friday and Dimitrov Day, he will go mad or fall ill, and after death he will turn into a vampire. After fertilization, traditionally, women bake loaves of bread and distribute them, so that it gives birth to healthy cattle.
On the night before Friday, he holds the Friday Stew, in honor of the dead he distributes horseshoes, served with boiled wheat, sweet rice, watermelon and grapes. On Friday, they make family sacrifices and break ritual breads, such as the biggest, called “Holy Friday”, which they put on the table on a man's shirt, panichka kol and a glass of wine. The house pours holy water, the ritual bread breaks and the whole family bows three times. After that, the oldest woman raises the bread loudly and blesses it and distributes the piece.
It is good to eat at our matzah on Friday: lamb casserole, Kurban soup, grape leaves, tripe, leek eggs, ritual breads.
On this name day, they celebrate: Petya, Petko, Petka, Petkan, Petra, Petrana, Petrina, Petria, Petrichka, Penko, Penka, Parackev, Paraskeva, Paraskev eva, Parush, Keva.