O5 - On-line Observatory
Lazarus Saturday
My name is Plamena Kirova, chief curator of Ethnography department at the Regional Museum of History in Burgas. The cultural event we organize every year is Lazarus Saturday which celebrates the rising of Lazarus.
Through it we introduce to the people of Burgas, including the children, the custom the way it was performed by our great grandmothers in the past. Thanks to the children we present its contemporariness. What inspired us to do so?
The children, of course. They should be familiar with the traditions, the way they were. It is our duty to pass them on to them, and they, in their turn, to the following generations. Lazarus is held every year on Lazarus Sunday - the day before Palm Sunday.
We try to perform the custom on its original day, but this year it will be on Friday because our performers, the girls called Lazarki, are at school. We started in 2013 and the first celebration was organized by the Regional Museum of History in Burgas together with Burgas Municipality and the Municipal Children's Complex.
Almost all the kindergartens and schools from the city joined in. They were organized in 5 rays that finally ended up on the megdan, the square in front of the Municipality building. There the Lazarki threw their wreaths in the water, as the custom says. It was a very beautiful and colourful spring celebration.
Country
Bulgaria
Size of event
How many visitors the event attracts is a difficult question to answer because everyone willing to touch that tradition comes to see it. We try to stick to the rules which we are taught by our great grandmothers and visit all the museum houses in the city. We hope to have this beautiful custom for many years to come.
