Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul

On the 29^th of June, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of the holy apostles St. Peter and St. Paul. The feast is known as Petrovden /Peter’s Day/. The two apostles are often perceived by the Bulgarians as brothers, of whom Peter is the younger. Sometimes they are considered twins. In iconography, St. Peter is portrayed as an old man in white clothes who holds the keys of the heavenly gates and determines which soul is righteous and which is not. His brother, St. Paul, controls the lightning strikes and sets on fire the sheaves in the fields. He can cause terrible forest fires, hailstorms, and floods.

Traditionally women take to church a ritual round bread and the first ripe early apples called petrovki /small green apples/ so that the priest sanctifies them. After that, they give them away to close neighbors for health, especially if there are deceased children in the family.

People with the names Petar, Pavel, Petrana, Petya, Pavlin, Pavlina, Polina, Penka, Pencho, Kamen celebrate their name day.