Bulgaria Marks May 24 — The Day of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture

Bulgaria is celebrating one of its most cherished and unifying holidays — May 24, dedicated to the work of the holy brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius. The day symbolically connects the nation’s past and future, honouring the power of language, education and culture.

Bulgarian National Television marked the occasion with a special holiday programme. The live broadcast “Varvi, narode…” began at 8:00 a.m. on BNT1 and continued until the midday news edition “Po sveta i u nas”, featuring coverage from across the country.

To mark May 24, the Sofia Municipality has organised a ceremonial procession, official ceremony and festive concert celebrating the Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarian alphabet, education, culture and Slav script.

The programme began at 10:00 a.m. with a gathering in front of the Presidency of the Republic of Bulgaria. Between 10:00 and 10:15 a.m., a procession set off along Sofia’s iconic yellow cobblestones, passing by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski before reaching the National Library St. Cyril and Methodius.

The ceremony began with a solemn water blessing, officiated by the Bulgarian Patriarch and Metropolitan of Sofia Daniil. Speeches were delivered by the Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev and the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Iliana Iotova.

According to the Ministry of Education, 78 schools and six kindergartens took part in the festive May 24 procession in Sofia.

First-grade students performed the poem “Az sam balgarche” (“I Am Bulgarian”), after which balloons featuring letters from the Bulgarian alphabet were released.

Following the official ceremony, the celebrations in the capital continued with an extensive cultural programme featuring various festive events and performances.

From 12:00 p.m., a concert took place at St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral square, featuring performances by students from Sofia schools and participants from the National Palace of Children.

Meanwhile, City Garden Sofia hosts the exhibition "Primers of Generations of Bulgarians" , which traces the 80-year history of the Bulgarian school primer. The exhibition will remain open to visitors until June 5.

Slaveykov Square and the Sofia Library hosted the sixth edition of the “Da poChetem” (Let's read some) initiative — a 24-hour literary marathon featuring writers, actors and popular storytellers.

Visitors to the Sofia Library also had the opportunity to explore the photo-documentary exhibition “Bulgarian Manuscripts around the World”, presenting valuable medieval manuscripts and phototype editions from collections around the world.

Meanwhile, Jazz Formation Sofia and young performers from HighLight Singing Academy performed a concert at the OKI Nadezhda cultural venue starting at 11:00 a.m.

Visit Sofia is joining the “Words Heal” campaign, which aims to remind people that the words we choose shape not only our sentences, but also who we are and the world we live in.

As part of the initiative, words such as love, affection, peace, tenderness and others were displayed on the city’s Tourist Information Center — Tram 83.

A folklore concert by Sofia-6 Ensemble took place at Vitosha Community Center at 11:00 a.m.

As part of the tradition, the Culture Directorate of Sofia Municipality, together with the Cultural and Information Centre of the Bulgarian national minority in Bosilegrad, has organ organised a festive May 24 celebration in the village of Izvor. The event featured performances by the vocal ensemble Bulgarian Voices.

To allow more people to follow the celebrations, screens were installed in front of the National Library St. Cyril and Methodius for live coverage of the ceremony, while a large screen broadcasting the events were set up in front of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.