St Theodore's Day (Horse Easter)
28 February 2026 · movable holiday — Ride on, horseman! Happy St Theodore's Day – swift horses and a good year!
St Theodore's Day is one of Bulgaria's best-loved folk holidays. It is tied to the veneration of St Theodore Tiron: on the first Saturday of Great Lent the Church remembers his miracle of the kolivo (boiled wheat). In folk tradition the day belongs to the horse, which is why it is also called Horse Easter. In the morning horses are groomed, decorated with colourful ribbons and flowers, and led to water, and their owners treat them to special ritual bread. In many regions people hold kushiya, traditional horse races, and the winner receives a prize, usually an embroidered towel or a ritual bread loaf. Women bake ritual bread rolls, and everyone named Todor, Todorka, Teodora or Dora celebrates a name day. The date moves because it depends on Orthodox Easter, which is calculated by the Julian calendar as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. In 2026 St Theodore's Day falls on 28 February.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure of a horse and rider in full gallop, drawn from bright dots and fine lines like a constellation moving across the night sky
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