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 […]
0 Read More
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 […]
0 Read More
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 […]
0 Read MoreMeet 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 […]
0 Read More
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 […]
0 Read MoreMeet 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 […]
0 Read MoreMeet 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 […]
0 Read MoreExploring 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 […]
0 Read More
The question “What to do on St Valentine’s Day?” can be frustrating. For those in a relationship, there is the what-to-buy-this-year horror, while for some singles there is the feeling of loneliness. The anti-globalists become incensed at the heart-shaped mania that is taking over the world […]
0 Read More
