Forgive me I forgive you ...

   Seven is the number of God and his word of completion ( not only eastern ortodox beliefs)

And Seven weeks before Easter is the Forgiveness week ( Prosh-ki - Прошки ) 

Seven weeks each with seven days, fourthy nine days before Easter is the time of the year when Bulgarians say - Forgive me and I forgive you. Everyone asks everyone to forgive his or her misdeeds over the passed year in the week of the Forgiveness ( each year the date varies but the Prosh-ki day is always on a Sunday 49 days before Easter)  

The Sunday which is also called Sirni Zagovezni  ( Сирни Заговезни)- the name refers to the fact that one is alowed to eat milk , cheese, eggs, butter and is the last day when animal products are still alowed  on the table before the most strict 40 days Easter Fast starts.  

The rite is centered in families and communities, in which people ask their elders, including parents , elder relatives, neighbours, superiors, even ancestors - to absolve whatever they have done wrong, even if they do not know it or did not intend it. It is believed that the year ahead will be healthy and abundant if everyone is forgiven. In some parts of the country the forgiveness day is also associated with the manifestly old Bulgarian pagan second  KUKERI dance , in which men dressed like  demons try to chase evil spirits away ( the first KUKERI dance is in januari - SURVA ) In other parts big fires are lit to chase the evil spirits away and the young boys have to jump over the fires to overcome their fears and doubts and to come on the other side braver and with fire enriched spirit. 

Interesting fact is the preparation of the body and the spirit for the upcoming Spring equinox and Easter. After Prosh-ki day there are 9 days preparation and The 40 days Easter Fast (absolutely strict plant based diet and only water or herbal tea alowed) - the body deep cleanse (detox) is humbly done and on the Easter day (the eastern Egg coloured in red represents the pure new life is reborn)  one is alowed to include animal products again as the seasonal shift is completed .  

 Like a great body and spirit Re-start. "Kind-a-Christ Resurrection" in mind, body and spirit. 

The Forgiveness precedes the Cleansing for the "Resurection"of the body and the Spirit; in other simple words - Forgive me, forgive you - is the releasing of all the disapointments, fears and doubts- the mind,heart and thought cleansing before the cleansing and rejuvination of the body (40 days ) to reach the re-start of every cell in the body and step higher in Spirit for the new season ahead. The tradition is known since 7th-8 th century and kept alive until today in every family and neighborhood. And it goes every spring just 7 weeks before Easter for nearly 14 centuries.

It is a rite of - courage and dignity to ask forgiveness and it is a great relief before the great spring restart every year. 

Forgive me !

 I Forgive you ! 

And we open our hearts for rejuvination.

 “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

Alexander Pope

A.A 

Stob, Bulgaria