STORIES+Bulgaria

The kinds of winter celebration we meet nowadays in Kardzhali is a palette of ethnical experiences as Muslims amount for 65% of the population, Christians – 29%, and Pomaks (Bulgarian speaking Muslims) – 6 %. In the central city, small groups of Armenians, Roma people, Greeks and Jews live as well, while the surrounding villages are fitting to a highly polarized ethnic model, being inhabited exclusively by Bulgarians (Christians) or Turks (Muslims) only. During the period of socialist regime (1944-1989), Christmas was practically forbidden in Bulgaria as a religious celebration. In fact, forbidden were also the winter religious holidays of all ethnicities. Some Christian families mainly in the villages continued celebrating Christmas Eve on January 6th and Christmas of January 7 in secrecy cooking traditional roast pork and slaughtering a home-raised pig for the occasion. Officially, during socialist time, the winter celebration was the welcoming of the New Year, when children received gifts from “Grandpa Frost” – a substitute for the outlawed Santa Klaus. After 1989, all winter celebrations of the different ethnicities were rehabilitated: the Christian Christmas, the Muslim Ashurа (New Year), the Armenian Christmas, the Chanukah of Jews and Vassilitsa (Roma New Year) of Gypsies.
 * “Happy New Year” -** **before and after 1989 in Bulgaria**