Saint Nicholas Day Since Nikoljdan always falls in the fasting period preceding Christmas, it is celebrated according to the Eastern Orthodox fasting rules ("Post"). Fasting refers in this context to the eating of a restricted diet for reasons of religion. This entails the complete avoidance of animal-sourced food products (meat, milk, dairy products and eggs). Fish may be eaten on certain days In Bulgaria, Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated on the 6 December as "Nikulden". Families invite relatives, sponsors and neighbors for a meal of fish (usually "ribnik", a carp wrapped in dough) and two loaves of ceremonial bread, all of which are
Church of St Nicholas, Melnik the 2000s. The Church of St Nicholas lies on top of the eponymous hill of Sveti Nikola ("Saint Nicholas") just south of the town of Melnik. The church occupies a location which hosted other sacred buildings in Antiquity. A Thracian sanctuary devoted to the goddess Bendis, the Thracian variant of Artemis, stood at the place before a Christian basilica was built in the 5th century. However, the older church did not survive for long, as it was ruined by the end of the 6th century. The Church of St Nicholas is generally dated to the late 12th century, a time