Epiphany and Jordan Day

The holiday celebrations in Bulgaria continued this week with Epiphany and St. Jordan's Day (Bogojavlenie and Yordanov Den) on Wednesday St. Johns Day on Thursday. 

Testing the Chorba before celebrations.
The man who took this picture is the one who later retrieved the cross in the river. 

The 6th of January, to me, always had significance: it was when we took down our Christmas decorations, looked for the plastic baby inside of a king cake, and (thank you decade of Catholic education) celebrated the three magi finding Jesus. 


On Epiphany, Orthodox tradition places extra emphasis on the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. Believers hold this day to be one of only two occasions when the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were present at once. In Bulgaria, it is also the name day for Jordan. 

Despite it being super cold on the 6th, a significant crowd participated in the Epiphany celebrations in Chiprovtsi. The chorba (soup with intestines and a lot of other parts of recently slaughtered lamb) was carried in, candles were lit in the bread, and the mayor said a few words. The priest blessed the water and then the people with basil leaves dipped in holy water. 


After filling our empty bowls with soup and our empty jars with newly holy water, and after having our bread blessed and broken (all this done for health). We headed to the edge of the icy river to watch two men chase after the cross thrown in after the blessing by the priest. He who retrieves the cross receives a special blessing. 

People also removed their boots and socks to dip their bare feet in the river. Others washed their faces and sprinkled a few drops on their bodies...Curious how the same people who never let me go two steps into their house without slippers, for fear of my feet becoming cold, stood barefoot on snow before stepping into icy water-all in the name of health, but such is faith. 

Sips of rakia were passed around, also for health. I kept my shoes on, but helped others from falling in. I'm pretty confident drinking the holy water, being blessed by having it shaken on me by a priest, and eating chorba gave me plenty of health. 


I also took down Christmas decorations.