Dita e Verës
Dita e Verës is a chief festivity in traditional Albanian religion, celebrating the strengthening of the Sun (Dielli) and the renewal of nature, also respecting the vegetation and the Earth (Dheu).
On the eve or before sunrise, bonfires (zjarre) are traditionally lit in yards throughout Abanian-inhabited territories with the function to drive away the darkness of the winter season and for the strengthening of the Sun, as well as for purification and apotropaic purposes.
[6] The distinctive sign of this holiday is baking ballokume, a sugar cookie made with Albanian corn.
A Red and White wool bracelet called "Verore" is worn to celebrate the beginning of summer.
[8] Thanas Meksi, a renowned researcher and musicologist, divided the festival into four phases:[9] Rituals of the Summer Day include washing eyes with summer flowers, drinking water from "the pig's trough" (a wild spring found underground in forested areas), symbolizing a healthy and prosperous year.
The morning of March 14 begins with visits to relatives, where the youngest son delivers shared goods.
[15] Source:[9] In Tropojë, this season gathers many people in the village of Luzhë, where they seek help and prosperity from tombs that have now been turned into idols.
The typical dish of Skrapar for this festival, besides Ballokume, is also Anak (a type of pie) with wild greens.
On the other hand, a car is displayed, which has the portrait of the devil on its body, ahead of which a carriage with brides symbolizes the day of the celebration.
Particularly on March 14 and on the evening before, the youth and children of Korçë roam through the city's neighborhoods lighting fires.
Then, for prosperity, everyone tries to jump over the fire as a symbol of successfully overcoming winter's cold, the revival, and the warming of the blood that Spring brings.
Families in their homes bake sweet or salty cakes, symbolizing life, revival, and abundance.
The festivities include young men and women going out to village squares and mountainsides, gathering the first flowers of the season, dancing, singing, lighting fires, and preparing special dishes made with corn and wheat flour, which are similar yet distinct from Elbasan's ballokume.
This festival is celebrated with the belief that the Summer Day brings luck, health, prosperity, rejuvenation, and human love, and the rituals are connected with the awakening of vegetation, the revival of life, and the transition from winter to spring.
It is believed that washing with their water, especially on Summer Day, brings fertility and good luck for women, health for children.
