One legend has it that the village was named after a local girl who, like many others during the Turkish yoke, refused to convert to Islam. She chose death instead and threw herself from the rock together with another girl – Dobrana. Since that time the village is called Reselets, and the place where the two girls plunged to- Dobranov Dol.

According to another tale, the name of the village comes from “razselvam” (displaced). Probably, after one of the great plague epidemics in XIX century, the surviving village population moved and some of them founded today’s Reselets Village.

Elders claim, however, that the village name originates from the fact that it was abandoned several time. But people returned because, despite the bad road conditions, the region has rivers, creeks and springs which support life.

St. John’s Day in Reselets Village: a distinctive tradition celebrated in the village from time immemorial. Passions and emotions yet unabated from the previous day – St. Jordan’s Day when brave men take the cross out of the river, Reselets denizen gather together again. In Bulgarian folk tradition, St, John’s Day is associated with the ritual bathing of newlyweds. It is celebrated also by namesakes who entertain guests in their homes. But in Reselets Village, young and old come to the icy waters of Rachene River on that day, just between the church and the school, where young men perform ritual carrying across the river. Before that, the river is sanctified by an old woman who pours wine and throws grain, geranium and a golden coin in the waters and drones “Those who cross the river or are carried across it shall be healthy and resilient as geranium, strong as blood and eternal as the golden coin, they shall be sated and rich, happiness and welfare shall overflow their thresholds..."

On the opposite bank, to the music of brass orchestra, ring dance is circling around the table brimming with food, and everyone, as if purified by the magic force of the water, gives their best wishes to everyone else.

 

 

 

 

 

Reselets Onions Fest– Reselets Village is famous for its water onions which is planted simultaneously by all village women on 1 June in the vegetable gardens along Rachene riverbed. After 3 month /usually end of August, early September/ again the whole village harvests the onions on the same day. Such onions – sweet and large, is grown nowhere else in Bulgaria.

The unique fest is included in the cultural calendar of Cherven Bryag Municipality and is organized by the Mayor’s office and the local community center. The tradition of sweet water onions growing is many years old and, according to community center chairman, the village is already called “the water onions capital”. Traditionally, this fest is accompanied by culinary exhibition – contest of onion dishes prepared according to traditional recipes by the dexterous Reselets women.