Christmas in Bulgaria

How Bulgarians celebrate Christmas

Christmas in Bulgaria is called Koleda in the folk tradition and Rozhdestvo Hristovo, the Nativity of Christ, in the Church. It combines Orthodox worship with a rich layer of village custom tied to the turn of the year: a first visitor who brings luck, a fire that burns through the night, bread that tells fortunes and singers who bless each house for the year ahead. The high point is not Christmas Day but Christmas Eve, Budni Vecher, when the whole family gathers for the fasting supper.

The Christmas cycle runs from Ignazhden on 20 December to Yordanovden, Epiphany, on 6 January. Three days of it, 24, 25 and 26 December, are official public holidays. Under the Labour Code, when holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday, the first working day or days after them are days off, so in 2026, with 26 December on a Saturday, the Christmas break runs from Thursday 24 to Monday 28 December.

Why Bulgaria celebrates on 25 December

Many Orthodox churches, including those of Russia, Serbia and Georgia, still use the Julian calendar and celebrate Christmas on 7 January. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church adopted the Revised Julian calendar in 1968, the most recent Orthodox church to do so, and has kept Christmas on 25 December ever since, the same day as Western churches. Easter is still calculated by the old reckoning, so Bulgarian Easter often falls on a different Sunday from Western Easter.

Under communism, Christmas was officially discouraged in the atheist state and 25 December was a working day. New Year became the main winter holiday, and some Christmas customs, such as the bread with fortunes and the visit of the gift-bringer, moved to 31 December. After 1989 the Christmas traditions, kept alive in villages and by older people, returned to the public calendar.

Ignazhden: the start of the Christmas cycle

Ignazhden, 20 December, is the day of St Ignatius the God-bearer, and in folk tradition it opens the Christmas period. It is also called Polazovden or "Young Year". The most important question of the day is who will be the first visitor, the polaznik: a healthy, prosperous, hard-working and honest guest is a good omen for the household's year, so some families chose theirs in advance. The polaznik stirs the fire in the hearth and is showered with wheat, barley and dried fruit. On this day nothing should be taken out of the house and no money lent, and the koledari begin rehearsing their songs.

Budni Vecher: Christmas Eve

Budni Vecher, 24 December, closes the Christmas fast, forty days without animal products from 15 November for those who keep it. In the evening the family sits down to a supper of an odd number of meatless dishes, usually seven, nine or eleven: bean soup or beans, sarmi, stuffed peppers, lentils, pickled vegetables, pumpkin banitsa, oshav (stewed dried fruit), walnuts, honey and fruit.

At the centre of the table is a round loaf, the pitka, with a coin baked inside. The oldest member of the household breaks it, setting aside the first piece, often placed by the family icon, before sharing the rest out from oldest to youngest. Whoever finds the coin is said to have luck, health and prosperity in the coming year. Walnuts are cracked to tell fortunes, and in many homes the head of the family carries incense through every room to drive away evil.

In the past, the oldest man of the house lit the badnik, an oak or pear Yule log meant to burn through the night. Nobody should leave the table during the meal, and everyone rises from it together. After supper the table is not cleared until morning, so that the ancestors who visit the house in the night will find food.

The koledari: Christmas carollers

From midnight on Christmas Eve, groups of koledari set out through the village. Traditionally they are young unmarried or engaged men in regional costume, who go from house to house singing koledni pesni, Christmas songs that wish each household health, wealth, a good harvest and happy marriages. In return they are given food, drink and small ring-shaped breads, kravayche, and the houses they visit are believed to be protected from evil for the year. The custom is strongest in villages and small towns.

Christmas Day and the gift-bringer

On Christmas Day, many people go to church, and meat returns to the table after the long fast. A traditional festive dish is pork, often cooked with sauerkraut, and turkey is also popular. Presents are usually opened on Christmas morning. They are brought by Dyado Koleda, Grandfather Christmas, who has replaced Dyado Mraz, the Grandfather Frost of the communist years, who came on New Year's Eve with his granddaughter Snezhanka.

The days from Christmas to Epiphany were once known as the Mrusni Dni, "dirty days", when folklore held that evil spirits were strongest and weddings were avoided. Stefanovden, St Stephen's Day on 27 December, is one of the most popular name days of the year, celebrated by those named after St Stephen.

Survakane and New Year

New Year's Day is also Vasilyovden, St Basil's Day, and it brings Bulgaria's best-known New Year custom, survakane. After midnight and through the morning, survakari, today mostly the young members of the family, visit relatives and neighbours with a survachka, a branch of cornel (dogwood), a tree that stands for endurance, health and long life. The branch is cut the day before and decorated with woollen threads, usually red, popcorn, dried fruit and sometimes a red apple. The survakari tap each person lightly on the back while chanting wishes for health and plenty, which typically begin with the word surva, and are rewarded with coins, fruit or treats.

The New Year meal centres on a banitsa baked with small lucky charms: pieces of dogwood, one for each member of the family and each standing for a wish such as health, love or marriage, or sometimes a coin. The tray is turned three times and each person takes the piece in front of them. For anyone sending wishes of their own, deepestfeelings.com has free New Year quote cards and messages, along with Happy New Year 2027 images for WhatsApp and Instagram status and ready-to-send wishes, all suited to the hopeful spirit of the survakari's blessings.

Masquerades and Yordanovden

Bulgaria's masked winter rituals begin in the Christmas season. In western Bulgaria, men who put on masks and costumes during the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany and around New Year are called survakari, while those who perform in the pre-spring masquerades between Christmas and Easter are called kukeri. The Surova folk feast in the Pernik region, held on 13 and 14 January to mark the New Year by the old calendar, was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2015. Masked groups light fires in the village squares, then visit houses at dawn, with set characters including the leader, the newlyweds, the priest and the bear, whose "mauling" is meant to give health.

The Christmas season ends on 6 January with Yordanovden (Jordan's Day), the feast of Epiphany, also called Bogoyavlenie. After the service, a priest throws a wooden cross into a river, lake or the sea, and young men race through the icy water to retrieve it, an act considered an honour because the water is close to freezing. In Kalofer, men dance a horo in the cold waters of the Tundzha river to drums and bagpipes before the cross is thrown.

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