St Demetrius Day (Dimitrovden)
26 October 2026 — The flock is safe at home, let winter come!
St Demetrius Day, celebrated on 26 October, is one of the key dates in the Bulgarian folk calendar. Tradition divides the year into two halves: the summer half begins on St George's Day and the winter half on St Demetrius Day, so the feast was seen as the start of winter. It was also when the contracts of hired shepherds and farmhands ended. They were paid and either stayed with their master or looked for a new one. Flocks came down from the mountain pastures, and farmers settled their accounts. The church feast honours St Demetrius of Thessalonica, patron saint of that city and the namesake of many churches. In folk belief he is linked with the cold and the first snow, in contrast to St George, who is tied to summer. The day follows the folk calendar of the seasons rather than a precise astronomical event: the winter solstice comes only in late December. It is also the name day of everyone called Dimitar, Dimitrina, Dimo, Dimana and similar names. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church uses the revised Julian calendar, which is why the date is 26 October.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure of a shepherd with a crook, drawn from pale glowing dots and thin lines like a constellation, walking slowly across the sky
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