Chomlek One of the tastiest dishes in Razlogko is Chomlek. It is an integral part of the table during most of the family holidays and customs. Learn more about the holiday rituals and the traditional Chomlek recipe.
В Разлог и Разложко на различните по време на семейни празници и обичаи се приготвят определени храни, които в миналото са били важна част от обредността. Чрез тази храна и редица действия преди и по време на храненето народът изразявал пожелание за добра реколта и вярвал, че така си осигурява плодородие през годината и здраве на семейството. Трапезата на всеки един от традиционните разложки календарни празници е постна или месна, в зависимост от това кога е празникът.
Wedding
The wedding is always on Sunday, but the preparations for it start during the week. At the beginning of the week, the groom’s family brings the bride a large wheat bread mixed with eggs, cheese and butter, sprinkled with a fork. They also bring her a casserole with meat and rice, wine and rakia.
On Thursday, the mother collects the bride’s “cheiz” – these are the fabrics, clothes, tablecloths, bedding and others prepared by the future bride, which she will take to her new home. It is characteristic of Razlog that the girl’s neighbors have to look at her “cheiz”.
On the same day, bread for the best man is kneaded in the boy’s home. It is prepared by a girl with living parents. Silver coins are placed in the flour. Traditional dishes, wine and rakia are prepared and consumed – all decorated with geraniums. While kneading the bread, two groups of maidens sing ritual songs.
A variation of a bachelor party and a bachelorette party in Razlog is the so-called “goshchene” – it is held on Saturday night at the girl’s and the boy’s homes. Relatives bring banitsa, roast lamb or pig, filled with rice, kapama, cheese, rice milk, tiganitsi (mekitsi), wine, rakia and others. After dinner, the young people dance.
Early in the morning of the wedding day (Sunday) the musicians come to the boy’s home – usually trumpeters and drummers, typical of the region. They play all before noon, until all relatives and friends gather and together they go to invite and “take” the best man. They bring him wine and bread, and a bagpiper plays in front of them. The best man greets them with sweets and rakia. He is an important ritual figure in Razlog, as well as elsewhere in Bulgaria. Here it is called “kaltyata” and the godmother is called “batinaa”. Then they go to the girl’s house to “take” the bride.
When the couple arrives at the boy’s home, his mother welcomes her new daughter-in-law with bread and wine. The bride has to bow to her three times. Then the mother-in-law gives them two loaves of bread and a jug of water – the wish is to walk on water. The boy’s mother also surrounds them with a towel and pulls them to enter at the same time, which is a wish that they never separate. A more recent tradition in Razlog requires the newlyweds to stay together until the girl’s mother (mother-in-law) gives them what she has prepared for them, then kisses their hands, does the same with the father-in-law, mother-in-law and all other guests. After distributing the gifts to everyone, people dance until late at night. There is a ritual at the wedding table in Razlog – the best man feeds the bride by placing three bites of bread on his knee. She should bend down three times and take it by mouth.
After the wedding, the young bride does not go to church for six weeks (40 days). Then she goes and brings gifts to the Holy Mother of God. Around Petkovden in Razlog, the relatives bring the bride “pletenitsi” (large wheat bread), cheese, tiganitsi, grapes and more.
Birth
Immediately after birth, a small “Virgin’s cake” is prepared and smeared with honey. One piece of it is left for the Holy Mother of God, another is given to the mother, and the rest is divided among the family members. The whole loaf should be eaten at home, if this is not observed, the child will become a thief. The grandmother- midwife takes a morsel of bread in which the mother drips a little milk, puts it in a walnut shell or barrel, seals it with wax and buries it under the threshold of the room. This is done to preserve the mother’s milk.
In some places, three days, in other places one week after the birth, a second bread is kneaded, called “povoynitsa”. Relatives and neighbors are invited. Each of them brings as a gift dishes, bread, and somewhere they also bring food products (beans, flour, wheat, onions, eggs, etc.). wine. On the bread is put geranium, tied with red thread and a silver coin. Silver and gold coins are placed on the forehead of the newborn with a wish. The grandmother, who has helped the child to be born, puts the bread on her head and turns three times around the set table. Every time he turns, he shouts “up, up, up” and jumps. On the third turn, she breaks the bread with her head and puts it on the table to be snatched mainly by the children.
When the child makes the first independent steps, everywhere in Bulgaria is made „proshtapulnik”. It is widely believed that the ritual should be performed on a working day, in order the child to be hardworking. It was made in the past in Razlog and Razlog region, but it is preserved to this day. Relatives, mothers with children and others are invited at home on a festive table. It is believed that good days for the “proshtapulnik” are Monday, Wednesday or Sunday. A woman with two living parents kneads a large wheat bread, on which, while still raw, the child steps on it to mark his foot. After the bread is baked, it is smeared with honey. It is given to the visiting children. They grab the pieces and run so that the child can run and get married easily. However, if, when he grows up, his marriage is delayed, another “proshtapulnik” could be organized, in order to get married sooner.
“Proshtapulnik” is also made to guess what the child’s future profession will be. A beehive is placed in front of the family house, covered with a white towel, on which the items from which the child will choose are arranged. In advance, the parents have “named” which subject will symbolize which profession. Before starting the “game” the grandmother covers the child three times with the hive for health, and after choosing an object, the parents hand out cookies and everyone has to run a little for the child’s health.
At an older age, when the child changes his deciduous teeth with permanent ones, he should throw the extracted tooth on the roof and say specific words.