Satisfy your egg cravings in Bosnia every March or during spring. Hundreds of eggs are cooked in huge pots and given out for free. This is to celebrate the start of a new season.
Visitors flock to Zenica, Bosnia, every year for this tradition. But not because they want a taste of the scrambled eggs, but because it’s fun, interesting, and a sight to behold. In fact, a lot of people support this tradition.
This festival has been celebrated for hundreds of years and marks the changing of the seasons. Each year, thousands of locals and tourists gather on the streets at dawn to celebrate the first d
ay of spring.
The egg, which symbolizes the birth of new life, is the main food of this festival and is cooked in huge quantities in giant pans. The whole city takes part in a barbecue and party for th
e rest of the day, with the brave ones plunging into the River Bosnia, signaling the start of the swimming season.
The first day of spring is marked every year on March 21 in Zenica, and the tradition dates back to 1978 when the first “Cimburijada” or “Festival of Scrambled Eggs” was held, an event of preparation of traditional BiH meal made of 1500 eggs.
The tradition says that residents should engage in the preparation of a dish made of scrambled eggs in the early morning, immediately after the sun comes up.
Rasim Salcinovic, a host, enga
ged in the preparation of the traditional meal by breaking 1500 pieces of eggs, pouring over the traditional butter, and putting the “secret” ingredients that are part of the 40 years old traditional recipe.
At the opening ceremony, the mayor of Zenica City Fuad Kasumovic broke the egg and sent a message that the “Festival of Scrambled Eggs” is a tradition for which the city administration will do everything to keep it happening in the future.
Despite the sub-zero temperatures and snow, thousands of residents living in Zenica have enjoyed a
t the Festival by gathering at the riverbank, preparing scrambled eggs, and sharing the meal with family and friends.
The celebration continues late into the night with live music, barbecue, and traditional bathing in river Bosna. Residents
of Zenica are emotionally attached to the event for four decades believing that the egg is a symbol of the birth, a new life.
