Easter, Bulgarian Style

In Bulgaria, Easter is the biggest holiday of the year. Bigger than Christmas. I have heard that the government and business shut down for a whole week.

Bulgarians are Eastern Orthodox and sometimes their Easter falls on a different Sunday than our Easter in the US. However, this year Eastern Orthodox Easter was on the same date as we celebrate Easter. We decided to add a little Bulgarian culture to our celebration of Christ's resurrection. We attended an early Easter service at our church. We though about going to a Bulgarian/Eastern Orthodox service too, just for a cultural experience, but we couldn't find a Bulgarian Orthodox church near us.

In the afternoon, we went to a Bulgarian Easter celebration. (How cool is it that the city where we live has Bulgarians living here?!) Some friends of ours who have adopted from Bulgaria also came. It was great to see them again!

Andrew enjoying some traditional Bulgarian dishes as well as American food. Lamb is traditionally served at Easter in Bulgaria. Andrew had some and liked it. I have had lamb before and didn't care for it, so I didn't try it. But I did try most everything else and thought it was all delicious!

I found a recipe in my Bulgarian cookbook for Kozunak, a sweet bread made at Easter in Bulgaria. I made it and brought it to the Easter celebration. I didn't know there would be a Kozunak competition! There were a lot of places and prizes, so most of the bread won something. My bread won a prize for taste!

I also brought another Bulgarian dish, Tarator, a cold cucumber and yogurt soup, seasoned with fresh dill and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. The recipe for this was also in my Bulgarian cookbook. It was the first time to try this recipe. Tarator is delicious! I am sure I will be making it again!

 Thank you to everyone at the Easter celebration for welcoming us with open arms! We loved experiencing a little of our children's culture!