Cheese Week (redirected from Sima Sedmitza)

Cheese Week (Sima Sedmitza)

Between February 8 and 28; week preceding Lent

Bulgarians call the week preceding the start of Orthodox Christian Lent Cheese Week. During this time Bulgarians try to eat up all their cheese, lard, milk, and fish, since these foods will be forbidden in the coming Lenten fast. People visit their parents, godchildren their godparents, and young people call on the elderly during this week, customarily offering a lemon (to men) or an orange (to women).
Young people play a traditional game that involves dangling a piece of Turkish taffy, a bit of cheese, or a hard-boiled egg from the ceiling with a bit of string. One person sets the object in motion while contestants try to catch it with their teeth. In some zones people burn bonfires. The boys jump through the fire while the girls dance around them—possibly a remnant from an ancient custom ensuring fertility.

SOURCES:
BkFest-1937, p. 67