For another year the Regional Ethnographic Museum – Plovdiv celebrated the Day of Saint Spyridon. The traditional guild holiday, dating back to the Revival period, is also known as the “Day of the Masters”.

The Saint is venerated as the patron saint of potters, tile makers, brick makers, shoemakers, cobblers, and others.

St. Spyridon’s Day was celebrated with a festive procession and a solemn liturgy in the Church of St. Virgin Mary.

The procession of craftsmen dressed in festive folk costumes and citizens who joined them started from the courtyard of the Ethnographic Museum, led by the icon of St. Spyridon, carried by the master tailor Ivan Tonev. To the sound of the bagpipe, the craftsmen walked through the streets of the Old Town and took part in the solemn liturgy in the church “St. Virgin Mary”, where the priest consecrated the so-called Guild`s pendiharo (five-loaf bread) for the health of all the living and in memory of the deceased masters.

After the service, the craftsmen returned to the Ethnographic Museum, where the exhibition “To Weave Dreams” was opened on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Stoyna Krasteva, who was part of the circle of craftsmen in Plovdiv.

In the end, as is tradition, everyone gathered for a common meal to taste the traditional Kurban, which the masters give every year in honour of their patron saint.