Bulgaria Marks the the Day of National Awakeners

Every year on November 1st, Bulgaria celebrates the Day of the National Awakeners (National Revival Leaders). The day is devoted to those who kept alive the nation’s conscience through the centuries - educators, fighters for national liberation, clergy and cultural figures.

It is a day when we pay tribute to the work of Paisius of Hilendar, Sophronius of Vratsa, Vasil Levski, Hristo Botev, Georgi S. Rakovski and all the writers, educators and awakeners who laid the spiritual foundations of Bulgaria.

The holiday was first celebrated in Plovdiv in 1909. In 1923, 1 November was declared a national holiday. It was not officially observed after 1945, but the tradition was revived in 1992.