Easter

Ester is one of the most important holidays in the Bulgarian calendar. In Bulgaria this holiday is popularly known as `Velikden`, which means `the faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ`. They eat Easter breads known as `kozunak` or `kolache`. Eggs and Easter breads are traditional symbols of Easter in Bulgaria.

Congregation
At midnight on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, people in Bulgaria gather at church, with candles. The priest proclaims three times `Christos Voskrese` (Christ has risen) and the congregation replies ` Vo istina voskrese` (Indeed he has risen). After that the people go three times around the church.  

Traditions
Before the actual day of Easter, each Christian family in Bulgaria would send presents to their Turkish friends containing a loaf of Easter bread and 10- 15 red eggs.
A typical Bulgarian Easter remains incomplete without traditional Bulgarian dishes like banitsa, plachinki (a type of pancake), baklava, Lamb drob sarma and wine kebap, which are prepared on the Easter Sunday  

The eggs
 The Easter eggs are an important part of Bulgarian Easter traditions. Bulgarians color eggs into different bright colors. And it is a tradition that the eggs are colored on Holy Thursday after the Divine Liturgy. The ritual of cracking eggs takes place before the Easter lunch. The person who ends up with the last unbroken egg is believed to have a year of good luck.