The celebration of the Day of Maternity Care at Medical University - Varna passed under the motto "Babinden (Midwife's Day) - Celebration of the Past, Present and Future". The organizers at the Department of Health Care and the students majoring in "Midwifery", dressed in national costumes, enacted the tradition of Babinden (the traditional word for midwife in Bulgarian is baba, same as grandmother), celebrated for centuries on the Bulgarian lands.
"Dear colleagues, I wish you to be very healthy on today's wonderful holiday and to take up with dignity, knowledge and humanity the task to defend the nobility in this profession that stands on top of the list of the noblest professions in our society. I would like to thank my colleagues for passionately preserving and handing down the traditions, because traditions are what make us professionals. Be healthy on today’s holiday and the days to come," said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Klara Dokova, Dean of the Faculty of Public Health.
In the past, on that day people used to pay homage to the elderly women who helped young mothers at childbirth and served as midwives. The third and fourth-year students in the programme of Midwifery, following the ancient Bulgarian custom, decorated everyone with a bunch of geraniums and made their wishes, "May children be as sweet as honey and working hard like bees! May boys be as many as the leaves on the trees! As many snowdrops on the meadows, so many little girls to be born! May children on the earth be as numerous as the stars in the blue sky!"
Ralitsa Nikolova, a fourth-year student, washed the hands of one of the first lecturers in the programme Mrs. Sashka Mladenova, who thanked for the honour and wished health and well-being to all her colleagues.
The Day of Maternity Care was also marked by the obstetricians and gynecologists at the second largest specialized hospital in Bulgaria - SHOGAT "Prof. Dr. Dimitar Stamatov" – Varna. The medics also followed the ancient custom "washing the midwife's hands", in which the Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Dr. Dobrin Nikolov took part. A religious ceremony for health and well-being was served by a priest at the Varna and Veliko Preslavski Metropolis, and the music greetings were performed by the kids at “Yan Bibian” Kindergarten, as well as by the student folk dance ensemble at Medical University - Varna.
Students and lecturers at the Affiliates of the University in Shumen, Veliko Tarnovo and Sliven also celebrated the holiday with the traditional customs on that day.
