Celebrated on March 12th, which according to the old calendar was the first day of spring, Gregorjevo is the Slovenian lovers' day—the equivalent of St. Valentine's Day. There’s a romantic saying that Gregorjevo is the day "when birds get married". Birds are a symbol of love. Old legend says that on St. Gregory’s day, the first bird that a girl will see in the sky will tell her who her future husband is.
The day is named after St. Gregory, who was a Pope, a church teacher, and a great spiritual leader. St. Gregory the Great, was widely recognized for his writing talents – one of the most appreciated works is his Gregorian chant. He was the Pope from September 3d, 590, till his death on March 12th, 604.
There’s even a special tradition in the Tržič town—children and adults make Gregory’s lights and little houses on rafts which they, later on, put into the river for the flow to carry. This ritual comes from the times long ago when cobblers and tailors used to work house by house. With the beginning of the spring, they stopped using candles and were able to work by daylight. To celebrate it they used to clean their workshops and place all the shreds into the small baskets. Then they lit those baskets and put them into the stream Tržič Bistrica.
So today little houses came into the place of baskets, but still this ritual symbolizes throwing the light away and welcoming the spring.
