24th May - The Day of Bulgarian Enlightenment, Culture and Slavonic Literature

Every year for Bulgarians   24th May   is a day for celebration, worship and deserved pride! From the mid-19th century, the celebration of Saints Cyril and Methodius became a symbol of the Bulgarian education, literature and culture, closely associated with the spiritual revival of the Bulgarian people.

In the 9th century, the Christianization of the Slavic peoples increases the need for the preaching of God's Word in their language. The new Slavic congregation led to struggle between the two Christian centers of medieval Europe - Constantinople and Rome.

The task to make the Scriptures accessible to the Slavs was done by two educated Salonikians - the brothers Cyril and Methodius. So between 855 and 862, the younger of the two, Cyril, also known as Constantine, created the first Slavic alphabet - Glagolic alphabet, based on the south-western Bulgarian dialects.

Between 862 and 867, the two men distributed the new alphabet in Moravia and Pannonia, the lands of today's Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. In Rome they receive the approval of the Pope for their work.

After the death of Cyril in 869 Methodius continues his work and remains the head of the Slavic literary school in Pannonia until his death in 885. After that, however, the disciples of the two brothers were subjected to persecution by the German clergy and dispersed.

Most of them were accepted warmly by King Boris in Bulgaria where they set the foundations of Slavonic literature.

Glagolitic alphabet, created by St Glagolitic alphabet, created by St. Cyril, is mainly built on Greek letters while using letters from Coptic, Samaritan, Hebrew and Latin. Almost all were heavily modified with many decorative elements, the main forms used are circle, cross and triangle.

The cross is the main Christian symbol; The circle symbolizes the infinite and uncreated divine essence; The triangle is a symbol of the Holy Trinity.

Glagolitic alphabet has a highly symbolic and representative character, but it lacks the practicality required for mass creation of manuscripts.

in the capital of Preslav. Therefore, in the Bulgarian lands, it gives way to the practical Cyrillic. It was created in the late 9th and early 10th century, based on the Greek alphabet in Bulgaria, probably founded by the disciples of Cyril and Methodius Literary School in the capital of Preslav.

With the accession of Bulgaria on 1st January 2007 in the European Union, the Cyrillic alphabet was recognized as the third official alphabet in the Union after the Latin and Greek alphabets.

Bulgarian alphabet is unique for the European Union as Bulgaria is the only member that uses it.