[caption id="attachment_877" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Kozunak from my local bakery "]<img class="size-medium wp-image-877" title="Kozunak" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dsc07126.jpg?w=225" alt="Kozunak from my local bakery " width="225" height="300" />[/caption]

I didn't know that by moving to Bulgaria that I'd get to celebrate Easter twice. Lucky me. Growing up a Protestant, I knew that some religious holidays were fixed (say Christmas Eve) and I knew that others moved around (say Easter).  I had a vague sense that Easter was tide to the moon and some other calculations but as long as we got to dye eggs and the Easter bunny came on time, I was a happy camper.

Now I know that Easter is calculated (by someone) to be the first Sunday after the the first full moon following the vernal equinox (a date which has been fixed by the church as March 21 given a problem with whether the equinox is on March 20th or the 21st).  As an aside, I am glad that someone else is figuring these things out.  If had it been up to me I would have pinned down Easter long ago.

Bulgaria how ever is Orthodox and the Orthodox religious calendar does not match to the Western calendar.  A big part of this difference rests with the fact that Julius Caesar's calendar (the Julian calendar) was inaccurate.  At the end of the 15th century Pope Gregory XIII adjusted the calendar.  What happened? A new calendar was adopted (the Gregorian calendar) to make up for the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar and on October 5th, 1582 everyone went to bed but when they woke up the next day it was October 14th. (This is kind of strange but okay.)<!--more-->Well, the Western churches adopted the Gregorian calendar while the Orthodox church still follows the Julian calendar.  But get this, apparently the Bulgarian Orthodox Church "determines its movable feasts, such as Easter, using the Julian, and its fixed holidays, such as Christmas, using the Gregorian calendar" (thanks Vagabond for this info).  Oh and the best part of all of this? The Orthodox calculations take into account Jewish Passover.  This is because the New Testament tells us that Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and was then crucified and rose from the dead.  As a result, you can't have Passover and Easter on the same weekend so if and when this happens Easter is moved back one week.  Phew.

So, we're celebrating Easter tomorrow (Sunday, April 19th).  But I think it may be more precise to say that we are celebrating Easter tonight.  Tonight at 11pm (other places I've read 11:30 pm), people begin to gather at church for a service.  At midnight, the priest says: Christ is Risen (Hristos voskrese) and the people reply: He is Risen Indeed (Voistina voskrese).  Then I understand that expels Satan from the church and in doing so the priest exits the church.  Everyone else exits behind him, carrying candles and they all proceed to walk around the church three times.

My friends tell me something about hard-boiled egg fights following the service but I don't think I really understand what they are telling me so I'll report back on this part of the tradition later.  I do however have it on good authority that the red eggs are the strongest and that these eggs usually win (this is from the 8 year old son of a colleague).

Then there's Sunday, Sunday (you know as opposed to Saturday night/Sunday morning).  This is when the forty days of fasting for Lent end.  If you were a serious follower, for the last 40 days you would have been on a meat, dairy and egg fast (with the exception of a few feast days where you can eat fish).  Traditionally, on Sunday you will eat kozunak, eggs, roast lamb and green salad.  (Humm, this doesn't sound so different from the Easter traditions I am familiar with.)

The kozunak, is a sweet bread, that during Easter represents the body of Christ not unlike hot cross buns.  In Bulgaria this bread is for sale all year round (and it's similar in flavor and texture to challah--the Jewish bread).  But this past week, the kozunaks have grown in size, quantity and there's been special addition to the dough.  The kozunak is normally about the size of a softball and it is baked on a sheet with other kozunaks.  These are all sprinkled with sugar and sold for 1.50 leva in bakeries.

This week however things got exciting.  The kozunak in my neighborhood bakery grew in size.  You could buy the small for 4 leva and it was about the side of a jar of large jar apple sauce; the large (8 leva) was as big around as a dinner plate and maybe four inches tall.  Now instead of having just thick-granulated sugar on top you can also see dried fruit bits and I think even nuts.  (Yum!)

I got up this morning and went straight to my bakery.  At 9am, I was in line with a number of babas and even though I am head and shoulders taller than them I waited for my turn.  I waited for about 15 minutes--there's nothing really fast moving about a bunch of babas.  In my mind, if the babas are standing in line rather than at home making the kozunak it's a pretty good sign.  When it was my turn, I bought one large kozunak (which I'll take with me to Easter lunch at my landlord's house tomorrow) and three little kozunaks (one for me and one for each of my neighbors).

I am really looking forward to celebrating this holiday both tonight and tomorrow!!