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Celebrate Easter like locals
Easter in Bulgaria, which this year falls on 2 May, is one of the best times to get to know the country and its culture. The weather is generally good, spring is in full bloom, and traveling outside the big cities is a pleasure. To make […]
Welcome to Tsvetnitsa
Welcome to Tsvetnitsa, or Flower Day, one of Bulgaria’s most beloved times of the year. Tsvetnitsa – or Vrabnitsa, Willow Day, – is the local name for Palm Sunday, the feast celebrating Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. Early in the morning, priests all over Bulgaria bless branches […]
Spring in Bozhentsi village
When spring in Bulgaria is in full swing, something marvelous happens. At night, songbirds go crazy. When darkness descends, nightingales, orioles, larks, and goldfinches sing, chirp, and improvise for hours, as if their lives depended on it, creating a symphony celebrating life itself. Urban dwellers are […]
Catholic Bulgaria
In 1199, Pope Innocent III wrote a letter to Bulgarian King Kaloyan to offer a union. Bulgaria had just freed itself from two centuries of Byzantine domination and actively sought international recognition of its political and religious independence. Even by the standards of medieval communications, Kaloyan […]
Diverse Bulgaria – Part 4/4
Meet Bulgaria’s many ethnic minorities, from Turks to Russians and from Armenians to Jews GAGAUZ How many: 540 (2001 census, no data in 2011) Where: Villages around Varna and Dobrich Language: Turkish Religion: Eastern Orthodox Christianity Who are they? Bulgaria has only a chunk of this interesting group, the […]
Gypsy brides market
Socializing with strangers in bars, hanging out with friends and colleagues, going on blind dates, having a dating site account: finding a partner in modern Bulgaria is like anywhere else in the West, but there is a community where people meet prospective spouses in a much […]
Diverse Bulgaria – Part 3/4
Meet Bulgaria’s many ethnic minorities, from Turks to Russians and from Armenians to Jews ARMENIANS How many: 6,652 (2011 census) Where: Communities in Sofia, Plovdiv, Ruse, Varna, Burgas Language: Bulgarian, Armenian Religion: Armenian Orthodox Who are they? The first Armenians left Asia Minor for the Balkans in the 5th […]
Diverse Bulgaria – Part 2/4
Meet Bulgaria’s many ethnic minorities, from Turks to Russians and from Armenians to Jews GYPSIES How many: 325,343 (2011 census) Where: Virtually everywhere, big communities in Sofia, Plovdiv, Sliven, Montana Language: Roma, Bulgarian, Turkish Religion: Islam, Eastern Orthodox, Evangelical denominations Who are they? The first Gypsies appeared in […]
Diverse Bulgaria – Part 1/4
Exploring the monotonous streets of Bulgarian towns where the overwhelming majority of people are obviously Bulgarian, it may be hard to believe that multiculturalism existed in the Bulgarian lands a long time before the very term was coined in the West. Situated on what used to […]
