Koutzoulan (Most Terrible Wolf day) When: November 21st every year. Where: Bulgaria. This is the day of the most terrible lame wolf, who ate people. On this day you must not comb your hair, wear a new shirt or wash your clothes. Don’t sew, don’t knit and do not cut bread with a knife.

There is an old superstition that rowan trees (also known as mountain ash) offer protection against wishes. It is considered unlucky to cut down a rowan tree except on St Helen’s Day, cut with a household knife from a tree the cutter had never seen before. It must be taken home by a different route [...]