ROUSSALSKA NEDELIA (Midsummer Week) - the week after Pentecost.
It is the week from Spirits' Day until next Sunday, when healers called "kaloushari" visit people's homes. People believe that after their visit there will be only health.
The week after Pentecost/Whitsunday is called Rousalska Nedelya (or "Midsummer Week", or also known as the "Mermaid Week") - it is believed that until the day of the Holy Ghost the mermaids have already done their job on earth – they have sown the seeds of fertility. Houses are decorated with wormwood and young girls put sprigs of it in their bosom, young men in their left pocket, and the children on their neck, in a small cotton bag like a charm amulet. In this way people protect themselves against the mischief of the mermaids. A man never starts alone on a journey on that day for he may lose his mind – get the mermaid disease. And only the mermaids can heal him.
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