The Cult of the Dead originated in the deepest antiquity 🏺. The ancient Egyptians 🐫 and the peoples of Mesopotamia believed that there was life after death 🌌. Therefore, they honored their deceased loved ones 🕊️ and gifted them with clothes 👗, food 🍞, various everyday objects 🏺, which would be useful and necessary for them in the afterlife.
The ancient Thracians 🛡️, Romans 🏛️ and Greeks 🏺 also believed in life after death 🌌. Today we all know the legend of the Thracian priest-king Orpheus 🎶, who descended into the underworld 🌑 to search for his beloved Eurydice 🕊️. The Slavs 🌲 believed that spirits were the souls of the dead 👻.
The Ancient Bulgarians 🐎 however, they come with a radically different culture. Their religion is from the group of monotheistic religions ✝️☪️✡️, because they believe in one god – Tangra ☀️, but they also honored their dead 🕯️. In addition to their deceased loved ones 🕊️, as a horse-riding military people 🐎🛡️, the Proto-Bulgarians honored on a certain day only those who died on the battlefield ⚔️.
With the adoption of Christianity ✝️ the Orthodox calendar enters Bulgarian religious life 📜, but it is so deeply intertwined with folk pagan beliefs 🌿 that today we would have difficulty determining what is Christian and what is from the old, folk beliefs.
Today is All Souls' Day is a day for commemorating the souls of the deceased 🕊️🕯️. In the church calendar, there are three main All Souls' Days ⛪. They are always on Saturday 📅 – the day that the church designates as All Souls' Day.
The service includes prayers for the deceased 🙏. The service is a funeral ⛪🕯️, after which a general memorial service is held. The bell rings mournfully 🔔, with a measured beat. In each Saturday service there are special hymns 🎶 and a canon for the dead.
On memorial days, relatives of the deceased visit the grave ⚰️, pour wine 🍷 and water 💧 over it, bring flowers 🌸, light candles 🕯️ and a lamp, fumigate it with incense 🌫️ and then bring wheat 🌾 to both church and cemeteries. They distribute wheat and food 🍞 so that "God may forgive the dead souls" 🙏🕊️.
🕯️🕊️🌿🙏🖤⛪🌸🍞🍷 All Souls' Day before Lent – before Meat Sunday (Meat Lent)
Traditionally, "kolivo" (boiled, sweetened wheat), bread and wine are prepared, and recently small sweets and savouries have been added. The commemoration is held at the grave, in church or at home. A lengthy prayer service for the repose of the souls is read, which includes prayers, readings from the Gospel and an apostolic text. But usually at the grave, priests perform a parastas, which is shorter than the panikhida. On Lent (on Sunday), the Last Judgment is read with a Gospel reading. Great Lent begins on the Monday after the Sunday of Syropust.
🍒🕯️🕊️🌿🙏🌸⛪🍞🍷 Cherry All Souls' Day – All Souls' Day on the Saturday before Pentecost
On this All Souls' Day, we honor the memory and pray for the souls of all deceased Orthodox Christians. It is believed that the souls of the deceased who were “at liberty” after Holy Thursday are now “returning” to the kingdom of heaven. A general memorial service is held in the church. We pray to God to forgive the sins of our deceased loved ones, for which they did not manage to repent during their lifetime. In memory of the dead, the living perform charitable deeds. “Have mercy to give to everyone living, but do not deprive the dead of mercy,” says the Bible. The common tables that are held on Chereshova All Souls' Day also have a charitable nature. Wheat, bread, wine, fruits and other foods are prepared and distributed. Wheat symbolizes the resurrection, and bread - Jesus Christ. On this day, relatives clean the graves, incense them and pour water and wine over them. Candles are lit again and wheat and bread are distributed, as well as the first cherries, which gave the name to this day of remembrance.
✝️🕯️🕊️🙏🖤⛪🌿🌸🍞🍷 All Souls' Day - All Souls' Day on the Saturday before Archangel's Day (Archangel's All Souls' Day)
It is also called "men's all-soul day" because it is specially dedicated to fallen warriors. It is sometimes associated with the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus. This all-soul day also reminds us that the angels of heaven take care of our deceased loved ones.
The Great or Men's All Souls' Day is always on the Saturday before the great Orthodox holiday dedicated to St. Archangel Michael. A large part of the rituals here are not Christian according to the canon, but come from the legacy of the ancient Bulgarians. On this day, any kind of work is prohibited, if someone works, they commit a great sin. Women prepare ritual food - boiled wheat with walnuts and cinnamon, which they serve to relatives and acquaintances. Lenten bread, without leaven, and some small sweets are also prepared.
First, people go to church, where the priest reads a prayer for the deceased. Part of the food is left in the church. Then everyone goes to the cemetery and shares and exchanges the prepared food. Part of the food is placed on the grave itself and poured over with red wine. According to popular beliefs, this is done so that the souls of deceased loved ones do not leave hungry and thirsty, and through the lit candle on the grave, the souls are not lost, but move more easily.
✝️🕯️🕊️🙏🖤⛪🌿🌸🍞🍷 Other days of remembrance
In addition to these memorial days, we can also honor our dead on certain days after their death with prayers and ordering liturgies:
– The third day after death – because the Savior rose again on the third day;
– Ninth day – for the Lord to honor the deceased with the bliss of the nine angelic ranks:
– The fortieth day – the last and most important day, when souls appear before God. Then, according to Orthodox Christianity, a partial judgment is performed on the soul and its state is determined until the final Last Judgment.
© 2026 Iliana Dechkova