St Gregory's Day: when birds get married and spring blooms again

SLOVENIA, March 14 - This is also a special holiday for children, who launch gregorčki models – little model houses and other objects with lit candles inside – on Slovenian streams and rivers that day. The light is launched on the water on St Gregory's Day.

In Slovenia, this holiday is celebrated on 12 March. On this day, Pope Gregory I the Great (the pope from 590 BC to 604 BC) celebrated his name day according to the liturgical calendar. Until the calendar was changed in the 16th century, the celebration coincided with the first day of spring. This occasion has survived in folk memory as the beginning of spring. The days grow longer, the sun grows warmer and plants begin to wake up after their winter hibernation.

St Gregory's Day used to be particularly important for Slovenian towns with a long-time artisan tradition, such as Kropa, Kamna Gorica and Železniki (blacksmithing, nail making and iron smelting), Tržič (shoemaking) and other smaller towns.

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