Maiden spring custom “Lazaruvane”
The people’s community cultural centre (chitalishte) “Dyado Ivan Arabadjiata-1926,” located in the village of Tsaratsovo in the Plovdiv region, organized an event centred around ‘Lazaruvane’, a maiden spring custom. This year’s celebration of the Convention 20th anniversary adds an extra layer of significance to the festivities, as Bulgarian Chitalishte (Community Cultural Centre) has been selected in 2017 on the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices of UNESCO, as a practical experience in safeguarding the vitality of living heritage.
The Lazaruvane is part of the rich heritage of Bulgarian traditional customs. It is characterized by the age composition of the performers, rich dance and song repertoire, antiquity. By nowadays the custom has become a real folk entertainment with a specific calendar time: the Saturday before Easter. The ritual is performed only by girls in national costumes. They prepare and adorn themselves with wreaths of willow branches. First they play in the village square and then they go round the homes singing and playing for health and fertility. The circle dance of Lazar is led by the most personal maiden chosen by all, the so-called “Kuma”. According to whom they are singing to, the Lazar women choose their song: .. “for a baby, for a young man, etc. “Before the ritual begins, The Kuma throws a cloth on the hostess’s right shoulder. The hostess returns it by tying money in one corner of the towel. More eggs and treats are given to the lazar women, which they divide among themselves. We have practiced this maidenly, springtime custom for years, bequeathed to us by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers.