/ world today news/ May 24 is one of the brightest Bulgarian national holidays. Every year on this date, Bulgaria solemnly celebrates the Day of Bulgarian Literature, Education and Culture.
The day of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, the creators of the Slavic alphabet, has been celebrated as a church holiday since before the 12th century. According to the church calendar, the Day of St. St. Cyril and Methodius, who created the prototype – Glagolitic – of the Bulgarian script, which is also a Slavic script, is celebrated on May 11. The Glagolitic alphabet underwent peculiar changes until it was formed in its current form – the Cyrillic alphabet, in which Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Macedonian, Serbian and other languages are written. Cyrillic alphabet is also used by Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Mongolians, as well as in some other republics of the former Soviet Union, and until the 19th century it was also used in Romania.
The date of May 24 for the holiday originates from the adoption in 1916 of the Gregorian calendar as the state calendar, according to which May 11 on the church calendar falls on May 24 on the state calendar. After 1968, the Church celebrates St. St. Cyril and Methodius on May 11, and so May 24 was established as the Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and of Slavic Writing. This is also the holiday that has been celebrated for the longest time in our recent history.
For the first time, as a national Day of Education, it was celebrated on May 11 in 1851 in the diocesan school “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” in Plovdiv on the initiative of Nayden Gerov. The date of May 11 – the common church holiday of the two saints, on which there are the earliest records of celebrating as the day of the Holy co-apostles and Slavic-Bulgarian educators Cyril and Methodius, recognized as saints as early as the end of the 9th century, was not chosen by Nayden Gerov for marking also as the Day of Enlightenment. Because the holiday of letters is a special date for all of us. And no matter where one is, one should cherish the memory of the cheerful atmosphere on this bright May day. May 24 is a celebration of spiritual elevation, of striving for perfection through the achievements of science and culture. Therefore, according to some, this is the most Bulgarian holiday. As a holiday of the Slavic writing and of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius, May 24 is celebrated today and outside Bulgaria – in Russia it was celebrated for the first time in 1986 on the initiative of the Murmansk writer Vitaly Maslov in Murmansk, the northernmost point where there is monument of St. St. Cyril and Methodius.
The letters created by Cyril and Methodius, the translations they made of the most important liturgical books, their protection of the right of every nation to glorify God in its own language, are of historical importance not only for the formation of the Bulgarian nation and its prosperity. Their work is highly humane and democratic, pan-Slavic, serving the great common human idea of equality for all in the spiritual realm. It is an indisputable fact that Constantine-Kyril the Philosopher created the alphabet and the first translations of liturgical books into the Slavic language.
Today, Cyrillic is written not only by Bulgarians, but also by many Slavic and non-Slavic peoples – a total of about 200 million people. The work of Cyril and Methodius was continued by their disciples Kliment, Naum, Angelarius, Gorazd and Sava, who, coming to Bulgaria, were warmly received and found support from the Bulgarian king Boris I. Each of the five disciples has its own church holiday, and apart from separately we also celebrate the common church holiday of the two first teachers and their five students every year on July 27 – the Feast of the Seven Seven.
According to prof. Roger Bernard: “Saving the cause of St. St. Cyril and Methodius, Bulgaria has earned the appreciation and respect not only of the Slavic peoples, but also of the world. And this will be so as long as humanity puts real meaning into the words progress, culture and humanity.”
“Go, people reborn,
towards a bright Christmas day,
with literature, this new force,
renew your fortunes!
Go to the mighty Enlightenment!
In world struggles goes,
from position unchangeable led –
and God bless you!
Forward! Science is the sun
which in the souls gray!
Forward! Population does not fall
where knowledge lives!
You were infamous, inglorious!…
Oh, go down in History already,
spiritually conquered the countries,
whom I conquered with the sword!…”
So the two brothers from Thessalonica
our grandparents encouraged…
Oh, past unforgettable
oh, sacred antiquity!
Bulgaria remained faithful
of this glorious covenant –
in triumph and in suffering
performed feats innumerable…
Yes, our motherland years
too bright experienced, in trouble
indescribable turned out
but always do your duty!
It was time, our writing
when he went round the whole world;
for universal enlightenment
she was an inexhaustible well;
it was also a sad slave time…
then Balkan brave son
bowed his face under oppression
to the Ottoman ruler…
But always the spirit of the people;
he sought support from you,
oh sages!… In ten centuries
your voice is still alive!
Oh wow, what a whole tribe
you pulled out of the dead
you resurrected a folk genius –
asleep in deep darkness;
ascetics for the righteous,
sowers of truth, peace,
the apostles are glorious,
stars on Slavic Peace,
be blessed
O Vius, Methodius and Cyril,
fathers of Bulgarian knowledge,
creators of our speech sweet!
May your name live on
in universal love,
your powerful speech may be remembered
in the Slavs for centuries!
Ruse, April 15, 1892
Stoyan Mihailovski
#Day #Slavic #writing #Bulgarian #education #culture
