ПРОГРАМИ
en de ru fr es sr gr al tr ro
Podcast in English
Share
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Bulgarians in Bessarabia keep the tradition of a special game with Easter eggs

Photo: Private archive

Games where the main character is the egg are probably not very many. In Germany, for example, on Easter, families visit the church, and then children look for eggs in the garden, hidden by the Easter bunny - a symbol of fertility. If we look for information, however, we will find a less popular tradition preserved in the territory of today's Bessarabia, where many ethnic Bulgarians live.

"All the eggs are placed on a line - one by each participant. Then, with a tennis ball, the participant tries to push an egg out of the frame in which they are enclosed. Each egg that comes out is a trophy for the one who hit it. The game took place in the street, and a bed of sand and earth was made for each egg, in which it could stand straight," the ethnographer from Moldova Galina Manolova told us.


"When I wrote about this game, I was sure that it still existed, and what was my surprise when it turned out that the game was completely lost! I found that it was known not only in my native village of Kairaklia, but also in the surrounding, mainly Bulgarian villages", clarifies Galina Manolova. "I was looking for materials to see if this is not a Moldovan, Ukrainian or Russian loanword, but this game is observed only among Bulgarians."

On Easter with the Bulgarians in Moldova, we have an interesting publication from the collection of Radio Bulgaria, in which you can hear the researcher's story about the almost forgotten Easter game of our compatriots in Bessarabia and her wish for more peace and light in our souls:

Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.
Radio Bulgaria Life    Bessarabia Easter Easter eggs Moldova

More from category

More than 150 Trabants to parade through the streets of Veliko Tarnovo in retro car show

More than 150 Trabants and other collector cars from the past will parade through the streets of Veliko Tarnovo today for the 14th edition of the Trabant Fest.  For the first time, a restored 1928 car belonging to an owner from Pavlikeni will parade..

published on 3/15/25 5:05 AM

Pressconference on "Introduction of mandatory shared parenting - a dangerous experiment with Bulgarian children" takes place in Sofia

The introduction of the so-called automatic shared parenting will affect over half a million children, sociologist Donna Picard announced at a press conference on the topic “Mandatory shared parenting – a dangerous experiment with Bulgaria’s children”...

published on 3/13/25 2:40 PM

BG Folk Dance Club CHEMSHIR presents the beauty of Northern Ireland through a Bulgarian lens

Bulgarians from the BG Folk Dance Club CHEMSHIR in Northern Ireland showcased the diversity and cultural wealth of their homeland and the country in which they have settled through a photo exhibition in the town of Omagh, entitled "Northern Ireland..

published on 3/13/25 12:13 PM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Clear
Min: -5 | Max: 13
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 3 | Max: 10
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 11
Clear
Min: -7 | Max: 14
Clear
Min: 0 | Max: 11
Partly Cloudy
Min: -4 | Max: 13
Partly Cloudy
Min: -2 | Max: 13
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 0 | Max: 12
Partly Cloudy
Min: -3 | Max: 13
Clear
Min: -6 | Max: 14
Clear
Min: -3 | Max: 11
Clear
Min: -3 | Max: 13
Clear
Min: -5 | Max: 13
Clear
Min: -4 | Max: 11
Clear
Min: -3 | Max: 13
Clear
Min: -5 | Max: 14
Partly Cloudy
Min: -1 | Max: 10
Partly Cloudy
Min: -2 | Max: 12
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 2 | Max: 12
Partly Cloudy
Min: 4 | Max: 12
Clear
Min: -10 | Max: 10
Clear
Min: -5 | Max: 11
Partly Cloudy
Min: -2 | Max: 12
Partly Cloudy
Min: -2 | Max: 11
Partly Cloudy
Min: -2 | Max: 14
Partly Cloudy
Min: -1 | Max: 11
Mostly Cloudy
Min: -2 | Max: 11
BULGARIA IN PICTURES
Which world-famous Bulgarian artist designed QSL cards for Radio Bulgaria?
Yasen Gyuzelev
Theodore Ushev
Christo Javacheff - Christo
Ilia Peikov
Lika Yanko

BULGARIANS ABROAD

Български English Русский Deutsch Српски Français Ελληνικά Español Shqip Türkçe Română
MOST VIEWED

What was Sofia Airport renamed? - A radio club in India hosts a quiz on Bulgaria and the BNR

Bulgaria, as distant as a mirage, has become a beloved land for a man who has never set foot in this country. For nearly 50 years, Mr Jayanta Chakrabarti..

published on 3/20/25 12:50 PM

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

Общи условия за използване на сайта | Политика за поверителност | Политика за "бисквитки"