As presented by Bulgarian newspapers By: Radostin Nanov

Of the Importance of the Date 24 of May is one of the Brightest Bulgarian holidays – the Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Alphabet Day. Therefore, most newspapers write about it.

24 May – National Holiday of Bulgaria On 24 May the two saint brothers, st. Kiril and st. Methodius and the language they created are commemorated. They were the creators of the Slavic alphabet. This day is considered a national holiday in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia, Czech Republic (5 July) and Slovakia (5 July)

Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Alphabet Day It used to be a religious holiday, but on , in Plovdiv, by the initative of Najden Gerov (a teacher and writer), it was celebrated as a national holiday. It is one of the few holidays with religious character that were celebrated during the communist regime in Bulgaria. Its anthem is “Warwi narode wazrodeni” (Walk nation reborn) by S. Mihajlovski and P. Pipkov.

That Day: Preparations for the Holiday Most newspapers feature articles about the greatness of the Bulgarian education, culture, and people. One of them states that there are over 20 teachers given medals and orders for their work. Interesting to note is the strong foreign presence – Ukrainian poets, Russian theatre stagings, praises for the USSR…

First Congress for the Bulgarian Culture On 23 May all newspapers featured the same speech – Todor Zhivkov’s speech for the closing of the Congress for the Bulgarian Culture. There is no actual information about the Congress itself.

“The Working People of Bulgaria” Besides the national holiday all newspapers featured information about the working people of Bulgaria and their great successes, praising the production of early tomatoes and the beginning of the toursit season at the seaside. A brigade at work.Educating the new employees

“Around the world…” All the bad news were for capitalist countries: A caricature For the Russia with love – all the newspapers were praising the Soviet block.

“…And at home” As a rule the newspapers praised Bulgarian spirit, productivity, intelligence… A factory, praised for productivity. A “champions” column.

Conclusion: That Day and the Newspapers Unsurprisingly, the typical characters of the Bulgarian newspaper of the 60s are: propaganda, optimism, positivism, strong ties to the USSR, and a mixture of disinformation about matters concerning Bulgaria and negative information about capitalist countries.

THE END