We all know that tomorrow brings hearts, chocolates, red roses & wine, poems, and fancy dinners to light up our late winter sorrows, but here in Macedonia there's another reason to celebrate--St. Trifun.
Another saint who was martyred during Roman times (though there were actually a couple of St. Valentines), St. Trifun's day is a name/feast day for those bearing his name (such as the mayor of Skopje--Trifun Kostovski). But as I've mentioned before, there are hundreds of such saints' days, so that's not what's so interesting about it. The interesting and funny thing is that, in this country of significant wine production, St. Trifun is considered the patron saint of the vineyards, and his day is a celebration and beginning of the new grape-growing season. Perhaps it's just another excuse to drink, and how this association came about I can't seem to figure out (despite inquiring).
Known as a healer in the 3rd century AD, he was from Phrygia in what is today western Turkey. Rumor has it that his healing powers were so great that, as a teenager, he was summoned by the Roman emperor Gordan to heal his ailing daughter. He did so successfully, but not long thereafter he was forced to renounce Christianity under the rule of Emperor Decius. He refused, and was tortured and murdered for it.
How his name day came to be celebrated is not too difficult to gather, given the millenia's old ties of Anatolia with the Balkans (from Alexander the Great to the Ottoman Empire), but what's even more interesting here is the possibility that Trifun's ancestors were from Macedonia and around to begin with. I don't seek to be irredentist by any means here, but only to state that, according to Herodotus, the Phrygians originally lived in the Southern Balkans and migrated to western Turkey as Trojan allies under the protection of Troy. The Phrygian language survived centuries of invasions, lasting till the 6th century when it gave way to Greek.
Regardless of the history, this holiday of St. Trifun is making me wonder whether his name and people haven't been around all along, one ingredient in the melting pot of Macedonia. Given the millenia of wine making here, perhaps during warmer eras (and the region is known to have been previously warmer and more arid, with more of a desert and savvanah climate), February 14 was just the right time to start working the land again.
These days, despite the more Mediterranean climate in the south of the country, it might be a bit early to expect life from the soil when snow is still falling (as it was today), but the ritual and celebrations exist. What are they? Tomorrow morning in churches in the Tikves wine region believers will gather to see the priest prune the first vine. Thereafter it is divvied up and passed along to spread good fortune in life and vineyards. Some priests and parishioners continue on to the vineyards themselves, pouring wine onto the soil and drinking it as well. Workers will begin clearing the vines from last year--cutting and burning them--but not before the jubiliation and possible inebriation has its way.
For on St. Trifun's day, people offer grape brandy and wine freely and they celebrate life and the new season to come with a feast. Therefore, what better holiday to pair with St. Valentine's than a day of imbibing wine and brandy? I can't think of one.
2 comments:
Very informative Justin.
Thank you!
I just remember than on that day in 2004, my neighbor, a veternary student, came over to pick me up and take me to his family's 'vineyard' in the Osogovski planini at about 7 AM. There were weird Ortho-pagan prayers and rituals, and then heavy drinking and barbecuing (with frost on the ground) with dad and uncle started shortly thereafter. Then there more parties, more dancing, oro, kolo, rakija, vine, a huge lunch... the usual Balkan madness. It was grand, and I shot a roll of film that I wish I had with me now.
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