Tag Archives: Bulgaria

Postcrossing meeting in Sofia

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This postcard was sent to me from Donika and the other girls who attended the Sofia meeting on 15.03.2014. Thank you all! 🙂

The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is a Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Built in Neo-Byzantine style, it serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria and is one of the largest Eastern Orthodox cathedrals in the world, as well as one of Sofia’s symbols and primary tourist attractions. The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia occupies an area of 3,170 square metres and can hold 10,000 people inside. It is the second-largest cathedral located on the Balkan Peninsula, after the Cathedral of Saint Sava in Belgrade.

Bulgarian alphabet

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This lovely card comes from Donika. 🙂

The central place of this card is for the Saints Cyril and Methodius and their creation – our alphabet.

Saints Cyril and Methodius were 9th-century Byzantine Greek brothers born in Thessalonica, Greek Macedonia, in the Byzantine Empire. They were the principal Christian missionaries among the Slavic peoples of the Great Moravia and Pannonia, introducing Orthodox Christianity and writing to the hitherto illiterate, pagan Slav migrants into parts of Macedonia and elsewhere in the Balkans. Through their work they influenced the cultural development of all Slavs, for which they received the title “Apostles to the Slavs”. They are credited with devising the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet used to transcribe Old Church Slavonic. After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs. Both brothers are venerated in the Orthodox Church as saints with the title of “equal-to-apostles”. In 1880, Pope Leo XIII introduced their feast into the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1980, Pope John Paul II declared them co-patron saints of Europe, together with Benedict of Nursia.

 

Merry Christmas from Bulgaria, vol. 2

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This card was given to me as a gift at a gas station after fueling the car. The card is printed for the Bulgarian Red Cross, as part of a program named “Hot Lunch” that helps disadvantaged children. The gas station chain has bought 150 thousand Christmas cards – that means they endowed about 150 thousand bulgarian levs (about 75 thousand euro) to the Bulgarian Red Cross. Way to go, Lukoil! 🙂

Kukeri

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Yu-huuu! My first stamped Bulgarian card. 😀 It came from Aneta who lives in Sofia, and it reached me after the very impressive 2 weeks of traveling. 😀

The card pictures a traditional Bulgarian ritual. Men dress up in scary costumes, put some huge (and very heavy) bells on their belts, and dance to scare the evil spirits away. The costumes are slightly different in the different regions, but one thing always remains unchanged – it’s always very noisy and very colorful. 😀