Bulgaria has a lot to be proud of, but very often we Bulgarians either forget or do not know about the important events and personalities in our history. As a responsible media, Actualno.com will introduce and remind its readers not only the names of worthy people who are inextricably linked with Bulgaria, but also historical events that for some reason have been forgotten, but are an occasion to be remembered – “On this day”.
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May 24: Day of the Bulgarian alphabet and culture
On May 24, we honor the work of the Thessaloniki brothers Cyril and Methodius – first teachers and creators of Glagolitic before the Moravian mission in 862-863. On this day, the Bulgarian school, teachers and students celebrate and festive celebrations are organized throughout the country. An interesting fact is that the holiday was not always celebrated on this date.
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Until 1916, it was celebrated on May 11. After the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, its celebration was moved to May 24. With this, May 11 remains a church holiday honoring the memory of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, and May 24 is declared an official state holiday honoring the work of the Thessaloniki brothers.
For the first time, the day of Cyril and Methodius was celebrated in the Bulgarian lands during the Renaissance. Then, on May 11, 1851, a celebration was organized in Plovdiv at the “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” diocesan school. The celebration was held on the initiative of Nayden Gerov. The date was chosen as a common one to honor the two saints, which the church commemorates separately – it honors St. Cyril on February 14, and St. Methodius on April 6.
In the “Christomathy of the Slavic language” appear the first written information from Neofit Rilski about the celebration from 1852. In 1856, a proposal to celebrate a holiday for all Bulgarian students on May 11 appeared on the pages of “Tsarigradski Vestnik”. The long-time teacher in Koprivshtitsa and Plovdiv Joakim Gruev, whose students are Todor Kableshkov, Ivan Vazov, Ivan Evstratiev Geshov, Konstantin Stoilov, makes this proposal from the pages of the printed edition.
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His proposal quickly gained supporters and the very next year the holiday was celebrated by the large Bulgarian community in the first Bulgarian church “St. Stephen” in Constantinople. Since 1860, a regular celebration of May 11 as Enlightenment Day began in Lom and Shumen. After that, the holiday began to be celebrated in Skopje, Varna and Sofia. On May 11, 1867, the 19-year-old Hristo Botev, who at that time was a teacher in Kalofer, gave a fiery speech about the meaning of the word and the need not only for political, but also for complete spiritual liberation.
In 1892, Stoyan Mihailovski, who at that time was a French teacher at the Ruse Boys’ High School, wrote 14 couplets dedicated to the brothers Cyril and Methodius. In 1901, Panayot Pipkov wrote the music to the poems of Stoyan Mihailovski, and this led to the creation of the hymn “Varvi Narode Vozrodeni”.
Happy holiday!
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Source: Actualno
