Saint Trifon's Day

I had an opportunity to visit my host family on the weekend of February 14th to celebrate the annual wine festival held in Negotino. While American’s are celebrating St. Valentine’s Day in accordance with the Roman Christian calendar, Macedonians are celebrating St. Trifon's Day, the patron saint of wine growers, in accordance with the Orthodox Christian calendar. American’s spend millions of dollars on their loved ones to celebrate this day(helpful hint: tell your significant other that there’s nothing special about the Valentine’s Day because you love them more as each day passes and so setting aside one day makes no sense. Besides tell them you’re allergic to the color red. I’ve used this strategy for years and have saved hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of dollars. The added bonus is that my wife doesn’t talk to me for two weeks.) Macedonians in the wine country celebrate this day by ceremoniously pruning an old growth vine in their vineyard. It is the opening, if you will, of the new season in the vineyards. For more information on this tradition, go to www.winemk.com. The celebration really enlivens an otherwise dreary February.

About 30 Peace Corps Volunteers made the journey to Negotino with many of them staying at the beautifully renovated St. George’s monastery (there are some pictures of the monastery that I posted when I was training in Negotino). It was a good time for all of us to catch up with each other’s adventures in our towns and villages. I stayed with my host family and we had a busy time.

On Friday afternoon we attended a wine tasting event sponsored by the major wine producers in the region. There was plenty of food and wonderful Macedonian wine for all. On Saturday morning, seven of us hiked to Kocho’s modest vineyard and he performed the vintner’s ritual of pouring wine, rakija and holy water on a vine while saying a prayer. He then trimmed the first vine in the row (he only has 1499 more vines to trim and tie up before the warmer weather arrives). It was nice to witness first hand a ritual that has been performed in the vineyards for hundreds of year by a real vintner and a good friend.

We then hiked to the center where the celebrations began at 11:00 with traditional folk dancers performing. The mayor and other officials spoke from the stage set up on the plaza and the local priests performed a ceremony. Then the wine booths set up around the plaza began offering wine from their vineyards. The term wine tasting didn’t really apply because they filled up your cup and refilled it when it was empty. It was more like wine guzzling. The wines were very tasty (I’m sure this isn’t an oenophile’s term) and very affordable.

I found it interesting to note once again, the absence of women at events such as these. Of the 1200 or so spectators, there were only a handful of women and they were the newer generation of females. I am not sure if I saw any women over the age of 40. It was definitely not a family affair.

Phil, Michael Sr., Brittany and I, along with Violetta got back to Kocho’s at about 2PM and Kocho grilled chicken, sausages and kabobs on his outdoor grill. It’s very unusual for Macedonians to grill in the winter months and Kocho received a few puzzled stares from passersby. The local dog and cat population took the time to drop by to investigate from whence the heavenly aroma of grilled meat was emanating (I’ve been wanting to use the word “whence” for the longest time. My next goal – to use the word “thence”.). We had a great Macedonian meal prepared by Slavitsa with all the Macedonian love that goes into making guests feel comfortable and relaxed.

I left Negotino on Sunday morning on the 8AM bus to Velez, arrived in Velez at @8:45, caught the 9AM to Stip and arrived in Stip at @9:50. The only bus to Probistip on Sunday is at 2PM, so rather than wait 4 hours in a unenclosed, unheated bus station, I took a taxi to Probistip (500 denari = @$10) and arrived home at 10:20. This was a record time from Negotino to Probistip. I don’t anticipate it ever happening again.