Believers pray for health with a unique custom in Blagoevgrad. Only in the Bulgarian city is held a ritual in which hundreds of jars of honey rank in the shape of a cross to pray for a good year of St. Haralambos. The celebration of the Christian saint’s day on February 10 is also a beekeeper feast as St. Haralambos patronize the honey producers.

In the temple, “Blessed Virgin” in Blagoevgrad every year on this day, each manufacturer brings a jar of their honey. On the put in the shape of a cross jars are lighted candles. So everyone has to eat at least a small spoon of the magic honey every day of the following year to stay healthy. Legend has it that the saint binds all diseases and doesn’t give them a chance to harass people.

In the morning of February 10, every woman bakes bread and three small buns and brings them together with a plate of honey to be blessed in the church. The bread is given away. The foreheads of children are brushed with the honey to be healthy during the year.