On January 1, the Orthodox Church celebrates St. Basil's Day or Survaki. On this day, Eastern Christians honor the memory of St. Basil the Great. One of the great philosophers and writers of the Early Christian Church.
Folk tradition connects the feast of St. Basil with the custom of survakane. Despite this small significant difference with the Christmas carol groups, on St. Basil's Day young men gather who go around houses at night and survakan their owners. Groups of children also go to the holiday itself, who also survakane the owners of the houses.
The survakane itself is a kind of continuation of the Christmas carol blessings. Both the carolers and the survakar groups have a leader and a person who plays the role of the donkey and collects the money and other gifts.
And again, just as the carolers carry krivaci with them, so the survakars on Vasilyevden carry dogwoods decorated with popcorn, dried fruits and wool. In some places, instead of dogwood, pears are also used, i.e. pear tree branches.
On the evening of Survaki, the housewife prepares the traditional banitsa with luck, which is made from rolled crusts and cheese. The luck is placed in it, using dogwood buds for this purpose. In addition to these luck, steam is also placed in the banitsa, and at the twelfth hour, the oldest member of the family turns the banitsa.
The people consider the dogwood tree to be one of the healthiest tree species in our country. It is the earliest tree to blossom and bloom, but its fruits are the last to be picked. They are used in our folk medicine. New Year's rituals also include fortune-telling - a collective guessing of which girl will marry whom.
Along with Christmas, Survaki can be considered one of the most mystical Bulgarian holidays, because most of the rituals and ceremonies performed during these days carry the spirit of the old Bulgarians. Ritual meal: boiled pig's head, pacha, banitsa, pita, chicken or turkey with cabbage, roasted piglet, honey, boiled wheat, walnuts, osha.
On St. Basil's Day, they have a name day: Vasil, Vasilka, Veska, Vasilia, Vasilena, Vesselin, Vesselina, Vesela, Vasily, Vaso.