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The Bulgarian Orthodox Church marks Thursday the Day of St. Ana, the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ.

According to the Gospel of James, Ana or Anne and her husband Joachim, after years of childlessness, were visited by an angel who told them that they would conceive a child. Anne promised to dedicate the child to God's service. Joachim and Anne are believed to have given Mary to the service of the Second Temple when the girl was three years old.

The story bears a superficial similarity to that of the birth of Samuel, whose mother Hannah had also been childless. Although Anne's cult receives little attention in the Western church prior to the late 12th century, dedications to Anne in the Eastern Orthodox Church occur as early as the 6th century.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Anne is ascribed the title Forbear of God, and both the Birth of Mary and the Dedication of Mary to the Temple are celebrated as two of the Twelve Great Feasts.

In the Eastern Orthodox religion, St. Ana is considered the patron of marriage, family, virgins, widows and pregnant women.

In addition to motherhood, the day is connected to the turning of the sun towards the East, the spring, and the time the day begins to grow – something new is born: new light, new time, new year, and new luck.

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