The Orthodox Church honors the holy great martyr Catherine on November 24 - one of the most educated women of her time.
According to tradition, Catherine was the daughter of Comte, governor of Alexandria, Egypt at the time of Emperor Maximian. Living in the capital, Ekaterina received a brilliant education, studying the works of the most prominent philosophers and scientists. She declares to her parents that she will marry the one who surpasses her in fame, wealth, beauty and wisdom. Young people from very rich families applied for the hand of the beautiful Ekaterina, but no one was approved. Catherine's mother, who secretly professed Christianity, sent her to a hermit who initiated her into the faith.
Tradition tells how Catherine met the then emperor (probably Maximian, Maximian II, or Maxentius). She tried to convince him that he was making a mistake by persecuting the Christians. Catherine managed to convert the emperor's wife to the Christian faith and many wise men sent by the emperor to convert her to paganism, subsequently killed and martyred. The emperor ordered her imprisoned, where she converted all who visited her to Christianity. She was therefore sentenced to death by crucifixion on a wheel. The wheel disintegrates when Catherine touches it, the executioners cannot execute her in this way and behead her in 305.
The legend tells how angels carried her body to Mount Sinai, where in the 6th century the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I founded the Sinai Monastery. The monastery has survived the centuries, remaining a repository of priceless works of early Christian art, architecture and illustrated manuscript books.
The main symbol of the Catherine world is the wheel with spikes, which is known as the "Catherine wheel".
According to Catherine's beliefs and traditions, women should not work – to protect their children from smallpox and also to handle sharp objects – scissors, knife, hooks and others, because they believed that if they prick their finger, the wound becomes inflamed. They believed that she protected them from diseases such as rabies, smallpox, fever, that she was a protector of motherhood and people's health.
In traditional Bulgarian folk culture, the day of St. Ekaterina (known as "Saint Catherine", November 24) is revered mostly in southern Bulgaria. In the Plovdiv region, it is believed that it protects children from diseases, especially smallpox. In this region, mothers who have young children, early in the morning knead bread and a small cow, which they spread with honey. The cake is distributed for health around the neighborhood, and the cow is hung on the door or thrown on the roof "for Baba Sharka".
In the Rhodope region (Middle Rhodopes), the saint is worshiped against severe diseases and high fever. Women do not work or touch sharp objects because it is believed that if they cut themselves, the wound will not heal.
In the Strandzhan region, Eastern Thrace and among the settlers from the White Sea on the day of St. Katerina was celebrated against mice (the so-called Mouse holidays). There the women also do not work, do not touch sharp and cutting objects, smear the hearth with mud and distribute boiled grains (beans, corn, etc.) with their eyes closed to "smudge and close their eyes" of the mice.
Ekaterina, Katerina, Katya, Katina and Tinka celebrate their name day