Midwives' Day (Babinden)
21 January 2026 — Granny brings water and kindness! Good health to all mothers and babies!
Babinden is a Bulgarian folk holiday honouring the village midwives who once helped women in childbirth, as well as new mothers. It is marked on 21 January, and in some places on 8 January, following the old calendar. In villages, women gathered at the midwife's home with gifts such as a loaf, soap or a towel, and she blessed the babies and their mothers. A well-known custom was the 'washing of the granny': young mothers poured water over her hands while she held a sprig of geranium and a white towel. In some places men were playfully doused with water too. Today the day also honours modern midwives and doctors. It falls in midwinter, when days are slowly growing longer, and the symbolism of water and new life suits the quiet wait for spring. The date is fixed in the Gregorian calendar, so it is the same every year.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure of a kindly old grandmother, drawn from luminous points and fine connecting lines like a constellation drifting across the sky
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