Boyadisvane na Yaitsa

The Easter season is here, and the people around town have been reminding me that it might be the biggest holiday in Bulgaria. I don’t deny that – there is a ton of stuff going on around Preslav, and will continue for a while after this. Today we kicked off the festivities by painting Easter eggs at the orphanage.

Painting eggs is pretty popular in the States. Here in Bulgaria the tradition of using eggs as an Easter symbol is taken to a whole new level. Starting on Easter and continuing for a week after, I am told that there will be “egg wars” in which two boiled and painted eggs are knocked together, and the winner is the egg that doesn’t break. I love this country.

Before....


So there's a tradition here in Bulgaria during the egg painting. After the first red egg is done, someone takes it and draws a cross on everyone's forehead with the red paint. I can now check "Have a hot egg dragged across my forehead" off the list of things I have to do in my life.

The kids were pretty into it. (Also, note the shirt that says "Police American Football" on it... It's the little things here that I love the most).

One of my awesome coworkers getting into the mix:

Out to dry...

So now I am officially ready for egg wars... Tonight there is a sort of midnight mass at the Church in town , and a big traditional celebration there. Tomorrow I’ll let you know how that goes…