Bulgaria 26/12
And so Christmas comes and goes……..
Just a quick backward step to Christmas Eve though. I’d already posted my diary when Jillian called me to tell me that there was something going on out the front of the house. We opened the front door to be greeted by very loud Bulgarian Christmas carols being sung by these guys
They’re ‘Koleda Dancers’ and the tradition is that they wear a garland of popcorn around their heads, they have big sticks, which they bang on the ground to drive out any evils spirits and they sing Bulgarian songs…very loudly. You have no idea how much noise these three sweet faced lads were making. You in turn, give them sweets, dried friuts and coins. I got flustered and couldn’t remember exactly what I was supposed to give them so just loaded them up with masses of chocolates.
I did find out that I should have actually invited them into the house so they could get those danged evil spirits out properly….lets hope the racket they were making at the front door was enough to do the job 🙂
It was so different from anything I’ve ever experienced…..so noisy and so much fun…and they were three really lovely lads………what a great tradition and a lovely end to my first Christmas Eve in Bulgaria.
Christmas day dawned….with snow just as it should be….deep and crisp and even 🙂
Jillian made us a light breakfast while I tackled the turkey. Wrestled it into the oven, and once everything else was prepared, we got ourselves ponced up for Christmas lunch, cracked open a good bottle of champagne and then opened our presents…..
While poncing up, I did note that the water pressure seemed to be droppnig…closely followed by my heart, as I realised the water was about to go off !! Of all days for this to happen with seven of us here drinking and needing the loo….Damn !! As soon as I had finished showering, I filled the bath up with water so that we at least had water to flush the dunny.
Anyway, back the the presents……..A big thank you to everyone in Oz for sending over gifties for me….especially my brother Jack. Amongst other things, he sent me a Bob the Builder scribbler….he said he hopes it helps towards solving my builder problem…..smart arse 🙂
Jillian gave me the latest Kath & Kim DVD, which is fantastic and Shorty gave me the latest Triple J CD, so I can get up to date with recent music….thanks guys 🙂
The mob started to arrive around 12.30, one bearing a large plate of Banitsas, a very delicious traditional Bulgarian food. Banistas are layers of filo pastry with the Bulgarian white cheese (sirene) in between and for Koleda, they also contain messages and one contains a coin. The messages predict your fortunes for the year and the lucky recipient of the coin is guaranteed a good year financially.
‘Abundance’ is the prediction for my year and Jillian was lucky enough to get the coin…..let’s hope it brings her a good year in her business.
With nothing but a lot of luck, I managed to co-ordinate the cooking so that everything was ready at the same time….a rarity for me….and by about 2pm we were all seated at the table ready to demolish the unfortunate turkey, the fantastic ham and all the other bits & bobs I’d managed to rustle up.
This, apparently, was the agents wifes first ever ‘traditional Christmas’ in the style we’re all used to and she seemed to enjoy it, though I’m sure she had some doubts about what we were eating and why and the Christmas pudding certainly stopped her in her tracks.
It was a good day….plenty of food and wine and plenty of conversation….Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the last guests headed off about 8pm, except for Martin who was staying the night as he had walked over and it was a little bit dark and cold for him to walk home.
We sat and had a quite couple of last drinks for the day, a bit of a chin wag and then everyone headed off to bed…trying to ignore the enormous pile of dishes that couldn’t be washed due to the lack of water….and all praying that the water would be back on in the morning……….
Which is was….Hooray !!!
And even better than that, by the time I emerged from my cave, Jillian had washed the dishes and sorted the kitchen…….fab !
A post Christmas breakfast of ham and poached eggs with lashing of tomato relish seemed the only way to start the day… 🙂
Jillian & I then prepared ourselves for the pig slaughtering…..we armed ourselves with gifts to take…cakes, chocolate and wine. We wrapped ourselves up against the weather and headed up the road at about 12 o’clock…only to find no one there. All the necessaries for the slaughtering were sitting on the side of the road but there wasn’t a soul in sight….and we hadn’t missed out because there was no blood on the snow. I was too shy to go to the house and ask…and yes, I know that’s not the usual from me, but I haven’t got brave enough to go and knock on anyones doors here…..yet 🙂
Not quite sure what to do, we decided to take a wander up the road, and what a glorious sight greeted us…….
And when I turned around, there was ‘Jillian of the Tundra’ standing behind me
On the way back into the village I couldn’t help but notice just how impressive this damned house is…..
& yes, I know that I have a truly amazing house, but sometimes I do forget just how amazing it is……..but to walk back into the village and see it dominating the skyline can be really quite overwhelming….sometimes I guess you just need to step back and take a look at what you have to realise how good it is…..I am just so very, very lucky.
We then decided to head up to Michaels’ café for a coffee & hot chocolate…which we did. He’s such a warm and lovely bloke…greeted us like old friends. There were plenty of locals in there today having a coffee and a wee rakia…not a bad way to spend a freezing cold afternoon in Miladinovtsi.
At about 2 o’clock we headed back up the road to see if the slaughtering had started…but still nothing. We figured then we might as well head home for Banistas, wine and a DVD…..with a big fire going, it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon…..and not nearly as bloody as a slaughtering would have been.
The temperature seems to be climbing now and the thaw seems to be underway….I keep thinking I can hear a tap running, but it’s just the snow melting on the roof and running down the drain pipes. A good sign if I have to drive to Yambol tomorrow…I really don’t want to do it in the snow & ice.
And now at 7.30, we’ve watched Kath & Kim, had more than a couple of wines and are about to attack the ham again for a small evening snack 🙂
Tomorrow, depending on the conditions of the roads, we’re off to Yambol. Time to take Jillian for a tour of the town and get her registered with the local police…yes, they still do that here, but not for much longer. Rumour has it that after January 01st it will no longer be necessary to register with the police…..and a good thing too. Time the shake off those old socialist requirements if the country wants to be part of the new, shiny, bright Europe.
Until next time
Dovishdane
mercer
Sue Mercer,
Bulgaria 2005
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