January 1

New Year's Day

William the Conqueror decreed that the New Year commence on January l, but practice in England was still variable. Even after the Gregorian calendar was adopted by all Roman Catholic countries in 1582, Great Britain and the English colonies in America continued to begin the year on March 25 in accordance with the old Julian calendar.

St. Basil, Feast of

New Year’s Day and the feast day for Agios Vasilis (St. Basil) are one and the same in Greece and Cyprus. Celebrations begin on New Year's Eve when Agios Vasilis is believed to visit each house, blessing the people and their belongings and animals, and bringing presents to the children. On New Year's Day a cake called the Vassilopita ‘St. Basil's bread’ is ceremoniously sliced according to tradition going back to Byzantine times.

Circumcision, Feast of the

The feast of the Circumcision, which commemorates the circumcision of the infant Jesus on the eighth day after his birth, was first observed by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches in the sixth century or earlier. Old Calendar Orthodox churches observe it thirteen days later in accordance with the Julian or Old Style calendar.

Ladouvane

Ladouvane or the Singing to Rings is a Bulgarian fertility ritual. Young girls drop their rings, together with oats and barley (symbols of fertility) into a cauldron of spring water. The rings are tied with a red thread to a bunch of ivy, crane's bill, basil, or some other perennial plant, and the cauldron is left out overnight. Ritual dances are performed around the cauldron and the girls' fortunes are told.

In west Bulgaria, Ladouvane is observed on New Year's Eve. In the rest of the country, it is observed on Midsummer Day (June 24).