Bulgarian History and Culture - Folklore, Traditions, Rituals

Bulgaria is among the oldest European countries with an ancient history, starting in the remote mysterious prehistoric times. This was the period of the unique Thracian, Greek and Roman worlds of antiquity, and the powerful medieval Old Great Bulgaria from 632 AD and the real Bulgarian Empire, founded in 681 AD.

So, Thracians were first inhabitants of the current territory of this country in antiquity. Initially, they were divided in many tribes, but King Teres succeeded in unifying most of them around 500 BC in the Odrysian kingdom, which peaked under the kings Sitalkes and Cotys I. In 632, the Bulgars led by Khan Kubrat formed their new independent state called Great Bulgaria, limited by the Danube delta to the west, the Black Sea to the south, the Caucasus to the southeast, and Volga River to the east. Byzantium recognized the new country just in 635 by a special treaty.

Later, some of the Bulgars from that territory migrated to the northeast to form a new state called Volga Bulgaria around the confluence of the Volga River and Kama River, which lasted until thirteenth century. One of the sons of Kubrat, Khan Asparuh went with some of the Bulgarian tribes to the lower courses of the rivers Danube, Dniester and Dniepr, known as Ongal, and conquered Moesia and Scythia Minor - today Dobrudzha from the Byzantine Empire, in this way expanding Great Bulgaria on the Balkan Peninsula. The peace treaty with Byzantium in 681 and the establishment of the new capital of Pliska south of the Danube is usually considered to be the real beginning of the First Bulgarian Empire. At the same time one of his brothers, Kuber, settled with another Bulgar group in the current territory of Macedonia.

In 864, under the rule of Boris I, Bulgaria accepted the Orthodox Faith and gradually became a major European power in the ninth and the tenth century, while fighting with the Byzantine Empire for the control of the Balkans. During his reign Bulgaria also received the Slavonic alphabet, which became an important pillar for the further cultural development of the country and of the rest part of Europe. The greatest achievement of Simeon I, son of Boris, was that under his rule Bulgaria successfully developed rich, unique Christian Slavonic culture, and that is why this period is usually well-known as The Golden Age of the Bulgarian Culture.

Bulgarian Culture Diversity

This country is often described to lie at the crossroads linking the East and West and a significant center of Slavic Europe during much of the Middle Ages, exercising considerable literary and cultural influence over the whole Eastern Orthodox Slavic world by means of the Preslav and Ohrid Literary Schools. Bulgaria is also the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet, the second most widely used alphabet all over the world, again developed in these two schools in the 10th century.

Today this European country is well-known and beloved for its rich folklore, unique traditional music, rituals and tales. The huge diversity of Bulgarian contributions to humanity continued in the nineteenth and twentieth century, with the activity of John Atanasov - the father of the digital computer, with the interesting and exciting performances of many noted opera singers - Nicolai Ghiaurov, Boris Hristov, Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova, and the works of a great constellation of famous artists, such as Christo Javachev, Pascin, Vladimir Dimitrov-Master.

A number of ancient civilizations, most notably the Thracians, Greeks, Romans, Slavs and Bulgars, have left their distinctive mark on the culture, history and heritage of Bulgaria. Thus, it could be no surprise that this European country has nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Two of these are Thracian tombs in Sveshtari and in Kazanlak, three are monuments of the rich medieval Bulgarian culture - the Boyana Church, the Rila Monastery and the Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo, while the Pirin National Park and the Srebarna Nature Reserve represent the natural beauty of this European country.