Vrubnitsa is celebrated on the Sunday before Easter and turns into an important ritual for the lasses, called "kumichene". The lasses that have taken part in the Lazaruvane gather in one place and proceed together to the river because the komichene takes place only by the river. A doll (a kind of ritual bread) or a wreath made of willow tree is used for the kumichene. Each lass takes the doll, the kravai or the kolak (all ritual breads) wrapped in a clean cloth and goes to the river. They choose a place where the water runs calmly. Each lass cuts a small piece of the bread with a small knife and floats it to the serface of the water. The lass whose piece is farthest becomes kumitsa. The ritual can also be carried out with a willow wreath. When the ritual ends the lasses have their kumitsa and are not afraid that a dragon may take them. In the evening on Vrubnitsa the lazarsko horo is played for the last time. This is the first horo played in circle after the Easter fast. Vrubnitsa is a big church holiday. Everybody goes to an official service where they take a sanctified branch of willow tree. If anyone from the family goes ill they set that willow branch on fire and cense the ill man with it. If any of the children has become a victim of an evil eye they put the willow branch in water and wash the eyes of the child with that water. They also put willow branches on their head and waist to prevent themselves from pain in those areas.
All the men, women and children with flower or tree names celebrate on this day.
Church Holiday: The entering of Christ in Jerusalem in the days before the Jewish Pasha. According to the Gospel texts Christ entered the city on a donkey and all the religious people met him with an olive branch and glorified him as a Mesian king.
|