site.btaBulgarians in Taraclia Celebrate Cheese Fare Sunday

Bulgarians in the Moldovan town of Taraclia, where they constitute an ethnic majority, celebrated Maslenitsa or Cheese Fare Sunday (the last Sunday, of Forgiveness, before Lent) on March 6. They gathered to chase away evil, ask each other for forgiveness, and set fire to a customary Maslenitsa effigy.

The local government, the Museum of Cultural Heritage and actors of the Funny Friday Theatre joint forces to organize the event. The actors dressed as mummers raised a din with drums, cowbells, flutes and ratchets in Taraclia’s central square, the idea being to chase away unwanted vermin, symbols of evil. After that, the Maslenitsa effigy went up in flames, the bonfire symbolizing the rebirth of life after death.

The people in the square danced a traditional horo chain dance.

Maslenitsa is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday, which has kept a number of elements of Slavic mythology in its ritual, celebrated during the last week before Lent, that is, the eighth week before Eastern Orthodox Pascha.