Rice, milk, and sugar: The morning ritual of the biggest Roma holiday

The sweetness of sütlaç on Ederlezi (St. George's Day)

A portion of sütlaç prepared by Pepi | Picture by Martina Petkova

The arrival of spring is among the biggest holidays here in the Balkans. It’s celebrated as St. George’s Day by Christians and as Hıdırellez by Muslims. Here in Bulgaria, we also hold military parades on St. George’s Day as he’s the patron of our army. Similarly in Greece, Albania, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia, this is a big day.

And yet, this is not what it’s most known as.

Here in the Balkans, despite military parades and other displays of pride and tradition, St. George’s Day remains the biggest Romani holiday.

What makes it the Romani’s holiday? The tradition has pagan roots and is followed both in the Christian and Muslim world. It did not originate from the Romani, nor do they claim that it did. The customs and rituals followed by the Romani don’t differ much from what other, non-Roma, households do to mark this day.