The sky over Bulgaria

The Sun in Bulgarian customs: Enyovden, Ignazhden, Christmas

Solstices are an astronomical fact that comes from the tilt of Earth’s axis. The Bulgarian folk calendar has marked them with feasts: Enyovden in summer, Ignazhden and Christmas in winter. Here we keep science and tradition clearly apart.

The astronomy: why solstices happen

<cite index="25-7">Earth’s axis is tilted about 23.4 degrees relative to its orbital plane (the ecliptic).</cite> <cite index="27-7,27-8">Twice a year one pole is tilted most toward the Sun and the Sun is directly above one of the tropics. These moments are the solstices.</cite>

<cite index="27-9">The June solstice falls between June 20 and 22.</cite> <cite index="28-8">In the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun then reaches its highest point at solar noon, and observers outside the tropics get the longest daylight of the year.</cite> <cite index="27-11">The December solstice falls between December 20 and 23.</cite> <cite index="28-9">In the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun is then lowest at solar noon and the night is longest.</cite>

The word “solstice” describes what we see. <cite index="26-8,26-9">For six months the Sun seems to climb northward, then for six months it moves south. At each solstice that motion seems to stop and its direction reverses.</cite> That also gives us the seasons. <cite index="22-8,22-9">When the North Pole points toward the Sun, more sunlight reaches the northern half of the planet and it is summer. When it points away, there is less sunlight and it is winter.</cite>

That is the science. Next, we describe what folk memory has kept. The descriptions follow publications on the folk calendar. For academic detail, see the work of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Studies with Ethnographic Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Enyovden (St John’s Day): close to the longest day

Enyovden is marked on June 24. <cite index="6-1">It is linked with the summer solstice. The June 24 date goes back to an old Roman tradition that conventionally placed the solstice around that day.</cite> The astronomical solstice does not always fall on that date, so the feast sits “near” the solstice rather than exactly on it. <cite index="4-6,4-7">In the folk view the Sun reaches its peak, then slowly begins to descend toward winter.</cite> <cite index="3-2">That is why people say that the far-off beginning of winter starts on Enyovden.</cite>

The most vivid custom belongs to sunrise. <cite index="3-3">It is believed that on the morning of the feast the Sun “trembles” and “plays”, and whoever sees it will have a good year.</cite> According to some accounts, people therefore rose before dawn.

Another well-known activity is gathering herbs. <cite index="3-4">The herbs are believed to have the greatest power on Enyovden, especially at sunrise.</cite> <cite index="3-6">Bunches and wreaths of them, tied with red thread, are made.</cite> <cite index="5-10">Girls divine about love by throwing flowering sprigs of enyovche (a herb) into water.</cite> These are customs and beliefs, not advice. The feast is also about fires, dances and songs. <cite index="5-11">Fires are lit, and people dance round dances around them.</cite> The feast has other names too, such as Yanevden and Ivanden (both forms of St John’s Day).

Ignazhden (St Ignatius’ Day): the “birth” of the new Sun

Ignazhden falls on December 20, at the very start of the window in which the December solstice occurs. <cite index="13-3">It is tied to a pre-Christian myth of the birth of the new Sun, which falls close to the winter solstice in the calendar.</cite> <cite index="10-2,10-3">A folk song sings of the Mother of God in labour from Ignat to Christmas. For that reason Ignazhden is seen as the first of the series of Christmas feasts.</cite>

The feast also carries names such as <cite index="12-12">Idinazhden, Mlada godina (“Young Year”), Nov den (“New Day”), Mlad mesets (“Young Moon”), Polaz or Polazovden.</cite> The names suggest the start of a new cycle.

Many descriptions present fire as the earthly image of the Sun. <cite index="12-1">Lighting the earthly fire is meant, by the principle of imitative magic, to strengthen the heavenly light on the days when it shines weakest.</cite> This is an interpretation of the custom, not an astronomical observation.

The best-known custom is polyazvane (first-footing). <cite index="10-10">Housewives watch what kind of person will first cross the threshold.</cite> The visitor brings wishes for the new year. This is also when the Bŭdnik (“the Yule log”) is chosen, <cite index="15-4">the tree that will burn on the home hearth on Christmas Eve.</cite> <cite index="15-5">The koledari (carollers) choose a leader and learn their songs.</cite>

There is also a folk saying: <cite index="12-9">from Ignazhden the day begins to grow faster.</cite> Astronomically, the shortest day falls around the solstice. After it, daylight lengthens slowly, not abruptly. The folk calendar speaks in images, not by the stopwatch.

Christmas: the light returns

Christmas, December 25, comes a few days after the solstice. Bulgarian tradition keeps it as a feast of family, the table and carol-singing. Ethnographers link the divinations and wishes of this season with the winter solstice. One example is a publication featuring the ethnographer Diana Zhekova. Here we find the idea of light returning, but in the spirit of the folk calendar, not of astronomy.

Reading them together

Astronomy explains why the Sun reaches its highest and lowest points: the tilt of the axis. Tradition gives those points meaning: the peak of summer and the “birth” of new light. The two do not contradict each other, as long as we do not mix them. The folk calendar does not claim that the Sun causes events. It turns sky-watching into time for community, song and good wishes.

You can see the dates of the solstices and the phases of the Moon in the app’s calendar: Moon and eclipses. Read more about the solstice and the seasons in the related articles.

A separate topic is the “solar” sanctuaries such as Perperikon and Tatul. We treat hypotheses about the orientation of such sanctuaries separately, always saying whose they are.

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