4th Workshop in Blagoevgrad (Bulgaria)

Bulgarian and Local Culture focused in History, Language, Orthodox Christianity and Folklore

On the first day of the project workshop, the participants 

learned about the Bulgarian wonders of nature, 

history and culture. 

Bulgaria with an area of 111.000 km and a population 

about 7 millions, offers a lot of 

UNESCO World Heritages. The population has 

been higher in former times, but due to the fact 

that a lot of educated young people left Bulgaria it 

has declined by the last years. In Blagoevgrad you 

will find the opposite: Due to its 2 universities, the 

American and the University of Blagoevgrad, the 

young generation in this city is very high.

Bulgaria as a crossroad of ancient civilizations like Thracians, Romans, Slavs and Bulgarians, experienced a lot of wars in the past. This country is the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet, developed in Preslav and Ohrid Literary Schools during the 10th century. The 24th May is celebrated for Bulgarian alphabetic.

On the second day the participants learnt about the traditional culture of Bulgaria. Mrs. Mariella Bogdanova, ethnologist, told about her experiences in tradition by showing some examples of her family's life. She showed with a huge proud her traditional skirt, which was passing from generation to generation within her family. This skirt lets her remember from where she is coming. On 1st March the people of Bulgaria gift their friends and relatives with Martenitsa. On this particular day the Bulgarians have the custom of putting Martenitsa on their dresses. They are worn on clothing, or around the wrist or neck, until the wearer sees a stork or swallow returning from migration, or a blossoming tree, and then removes the Martenitsa and hangs it on a blossoming tree. Baba Marta, the name of this special day, represents the ending of stale winter and arrival of spring. 3rd March is the National Day of Bulgaria on which the Independence Day of Bulgaria is celebrated.

One unique Bulgarian custom is “Lazarka”. This name is given to little girls, participating in the rituals on “Lazarovden” - a celebration dedicated to nature and life’s rebirth. The name Lazarisa symbols health and long life. On the last Saturday before Easter all Lazarki go around the village, enter in every house and sing songs to each family member. There is a different song for the lass, the lad, the girl, the child, the host, the shepherd and the ploughman. This tradition can be seen only in Bulgaria.