Bulgarian New Year’s banitsa (with lucky charms) - 3D scene (2024)

FAQs

What are the lucky charms for banitsa? ›

Traditionally, Bulgarians prepare and serve banitsa on two holidays –Christmas and New Year's Eve. On these days, people add kusmeti ("lucky charms") into the banitsa. These are usually small pieces of dogwood branch, which symbolize health and longevity.

After the banitsa is cooked, everyone is served a piece with fortunes. Before (or while) eating, remove and unwrap the pieces of aluminium foil, read the number written on the paper, and find out which fortune it represents.

Banitsa and burek (the Yugoslavian name for Börek) are very similar in that they are phyllo-based savory dishes, often filled with a form of cheese. While banitsa is usually made with cheese, burek can be made with other fillings such as spinach or meat.

Christmas Day marks the end of the 40-day fasting, so the conventional New Year's meal is very much meat-based. It's actually over-the-top meat-based — the customary main dinner dish is called “kapama”. The dish contains at least three types of meat — chicken, pork sausage or mince, and rabbit.

A typical Martenitsa consists of two small wool dolls, Pizho and Penda (Bulgarian: Пижо и Пенда). Pizho, the male doll, is usually predominantly white; Penda, the female doll, is distinguished by her skirt and is usually predominantly red. The red and white woven threads symbolize the wish for good health.

This is the easiest version of a traditional Bulgarian phyllo feta pie, that we call Banitsa 🇧🇬. Here, thin sheets of phyllo (aka filo) dough are stuffed with salty feta, rolled up into a spiral 🌀, painted with butter, and baked until golden and delicious.

Börek or burek is a kind of pastries or pies found in the Balkans, Middle East and Central Asia. The pastry is made of a thin flaky dough such as filo with a variety of fillings, such as meat, cheese, spinach, or potatoes.

Türkiye

Börek / Place of origin

They perform the Kukeri games (special rituals) in order to scare away the evil forces and to bring health and fertility for the entire village. During the Kukeri games are carried out elements of the folk traditions as well as fertility spells.

What is the lucky food for New Year's Day? ›

Bulgarian cuisine on Christmas Eve and Christmas

Some of the traditional meals include stuffed peppers with rice, with rice and mushrooms, with beans, grape leaves stuffed with rice, pumpkin pie, and traditional round bread. The bread contains a coin, which shows who will be the most prosperous member of the family.

Exciting naturally and artificially berry flavored swirl marshmallows and crispy berry flavored cereal pieces have been added to Lucky's classic mix of marshmallow hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, blue moons, unicorns, rainbows and tasty red balloons.

The Story of Lucky Charms

Hearts, Stars, and Horseshoes. Clovers and Blue Moons. Unicorns, Rainbows, and Tasty Red Balloons. Plus, crunchy, oat cereal pieces, too!

Lucky Charms made its debut with four magical marshmallow shapes: Green Clovers, Pink Hearts, Orange Stars and Yellow Moons. Accompanied by the charismatic Lucky the Leprechaun, this cereal captured the heart of breakfast lovers everywhere when its first Simply Charmin' television commercial aired on St.

All gouria are centered around certain charms that have come to represent the New Year. The most popular charms are the pomegranate, onion, the evil eye, the round coin and the boat.