The most desired guests at the night before Christmas in Yambol have always been the carol-singers. And not only in Yambol. Some interesting information about students’ from the center part of the town going caroling at the end of the nineteenth century could be found in the memories of our fellow-citizen Ivan Georgiev. We read about it in newspaper Trakietz from nineteen thirty-seven. The man told the following: Every year at the night before Christmas we gathered in the neighborhood square to learn the only Christmas carol at the time “A Son was born”.   The children from the center of the town learnt “A son was born”, and the youngsters from the suburbs – most of them agrarians, sang the folklore Christmas songs, which can be heard nowadays, too.”

In the nineteen thirties a new and curious dance added to going caroling in Yambol. That was the so called Yambol buenek. It is played only by Yambol carol-singers, nowhere else. There is no citizen of Yambol who doesn’t get excited upon seeing a few kudi – groups of dancers, competing in dancing, and there is a picturesque mixture of spurs ringing, boots stamping, Christmas carols singing, and bagpipe music playing around.  One kuda in Yambol consisted of nine to twelve men. Everybody had his role in the group – stanenik - a housekeeper, bash - a chief, a priest, a cat, a bagpiper, and carol-singers. The meaning of each of these curious roles will be explained in a minute.

We still don’t know when and where the tradition of the clothing and dances among the carol-singers in Yambol originated. The issue about which part of the town the Christmas buenek was performed for the first time is also vague. Some educated people said the tradition appeared in about nineteen twenty. The idea of the buenek was taken from the characteristic dance of the Lazar girls. Some huskies decided it wasn’t fair that men didn’t have their own dance. And that’s how the buenek appeared. That wasn’t all – they thought of a characteristic garment with a few elements taken from the cavalry - long leather boots with spurs and soldiers’ whips. Why boots and spurs? At the time Yambol was a big military garrison, including the fourth horse regiment, and according to the historians those novelties in clothing were taken from the army. After becoming popular, the tradition to dance a Christmas buenek continued to be passed on from generation to generation. For a century now.

But, as every stanenik would agree, being a carol-singer is not that easy. The preparation for the holiday began a month in advance. At Nikulden the carol-singers gathered and went to the house of the one, who would be invited to be stanenik - a housekeeper. The leader of the group was called stanenik. He was older than the other carol-singers, often married. He had to know all the Christmas carols, so he could teach the young boys. He should also be merry and be able to improvise his blessings to the owners of the house.
At Nikulden the carol-singers went to the house of their stanenik. If the owner of the house accepted their appeal to lead them, he treated them very well, and since the next day they started gathering at his home to rehearse.

An interesting fact is that the clothing of Yambol carol-singers could be both urban and rural. For example, in the north-east part of the town, the so called hill people preserved their traditional rural garment, while in the southern region the people from Kargona district started acting like citizens and dressed in white shirts, sheep-skin jackets, leathers and fur caps, decorated with strings of popcorn and bunches of boxshrub.
All Yambol carol-singers wore boots with spurs. They moved from house to house accompanied by bagpipe music, and danced their unique Christmas buenek. They arranged along their hierarchy, usually led by the housekeeper’s deputy, called basha – chief, who was carrying a sword or a carol ring-shaped bun. The so called priest was next to him – this is the person who says the blessings to the owners of the house. The last in the row, with a ring-shaped bun in hand, was the kuirukchiya. The so called cat was jumping up and down beside them. This was a disguised man, and his role was by fawning, rolling and persuasive mewing to convince the owners of the house not to be thrifty and to give the carol-singers a gift.

At midnight, on Christmas Eve, the participants in the carol kuda gathered at the house of the housekeeper and went around the town. Thus, accompanied by bagpipe music, with extraordinary stamping and abrupt shouts, the carol-singers moved from house to house. The contented owners of the houses treated them with ring-shaped buns, wine flasks, some coins, and with other gifts.

Thus, Yambol carol buenek, relating men’s and lazar girls’ dances, still attracts the young people in the town, who continue this unique tradition very ardently and eagerly.