Does anyone know what "sorcova" means?

Answer 1

It is a ritual practiced on New Year by the children aged up to ten years. They recite an auspicious text, whose efficiency is strengthened by the rhythmical touching with the “sorcova”. Initially the sorcova (from the Bulgarian word “sorov"= green, frail) was represented by a bouquet of young and thin branches with burgeons, adorned with coloured wool and paper. Later, it was used the artificial sorcova (a photography catches the commercial place of these objects).

When finishing caroling, the sorcova, as a symbol of fertility and health is laid in the girder or at the eastern window of the house, next to the icon.

The habit of wishing well with the help of these green and young branches was practiced by the Romanians at the calends of January, a time when the houses were adorned with laurel and palm tree branches.

Answer 2

"Sorcova" is a special bouquet used for New Year's wishes early New Year’s morning. Children wish people a “Happy New Year!” while touching them lightly with this bouquet. After they have wished a Happy New Year to the members of their family, the children go to the neighbors and relatives. Traditionally, the "Sorcova" bouquet was made up of one or several fruit - tree twigs (apple-tree, pear-tree, cherry-tree, plum-tree); all of them are put into water, in warm place, on November 30th (St. Andrew’s Day), in order to bud and to blossom on New Year's Eve.

Nowadays people often use an apple-tree or pear-tree twig decorated with flowers made up of colored paper. The children receive all kinds of treats such as: cakes, honeycombs, biscuits, pretzels, candies, nuts and, of course, small gifts of money. We chose Sorcova as this year’s traditional craft workshop because it is easy to do and it will come in handy on January 1st

Merry Sorcova,

May your health be strong

And your life long:

As an apple tree

As a pear stately

As a rose bush fair

Blossoming beyond compare:

Strong as a granite rock

Quick as an arrow’s shock

Hard as an iron bar

Tougher than steel by far,

Over summer, over spring,

May your health be great

A New Year with happiness

And in everything success.

Answer 3

An augural custom from the cycle of events devoted to the celebration of the New Year. The ritual is performed by a little boy carrying the ‘sorcova’, which is a small branch or stick adorned with paper flowers with which he touches his elders, addressing wishes and invoking health, abundance, and prosperity:


"Sorcova,
the merry sorcova,
Long may you live
To a hoary old age,
Long may you flourish,
Like pear trees,
Like apple trees,
In midsummer."