Culture of Bulgaria
Thracian artifacts include numerous temples, tombs, golden treasures and ancient rites and rituals, while the Bulgars have left traces of their heritage in statehood, early architecture, music and dances.[2] Bulgaria's contribution to humanity continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with individuals such as John Atanasoff — a United States citizen of Bulgarian and British descent, regarded as the father of the digital computer.A number of noted opera-singers (Nicolai Ghiaurov, Boris Christoff, Raina Kabaivanska, Ghena Dimitrova, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Vesselina Kasarova), pianist Alexis Weissenberg, and successful artists (Christo, Pascin, Vladimir Dimitrov) popularized the culture of Bulgaria abroad.These kinds of rhythms, also called uneven beats or asymmetric measures, were introduced to musicologists only in 1886 when music teacher Anastas Stoyan published Bulgarian folk melodies for the first time.The bag itself is made of a goat skin turned inside out, and most often the rims of the different parts of the instrument - chanter and drone pipe - have a piece of horn on it.Much of traditional folk music revolved around holidays like Christmas, New Year's Day, midsummer, and the Feast of St. Lazarus, as well as the Strandzha region's unusual Nestinarstvo rites on May 21.Several world-renowned troupes perform Bulgarian folk music, including the State Ensemble for Folk Songs and Dances, founded by Philip Koutev (1903–1982), Trio Bulgarka and the Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir, who are featured, among others, on the anthologies titled Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, volume 2 of which received a Grammy Award in 1989.Bulgarians often give each other a martenitsa (мартеница) — an adornment made of white and red yarn and worn on the wrist or pinned on the clothes — from March 1 until the end of the month.Many legends exist regarding the birth of this custom, some of them dating back to the 7th century and the time of Khan Kubrat, the ruler of Old Great Bulgaria.[4] The ancient Bulgarian ritual of kukeri (кукери), performed by costumed men, seeks to scare away evil spirits and bring good harvest and health to the community.In 2015, the ritual was entered in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists as part of the traditional Surva Folk Fest held annually in Pernik.According to the fact - an inaccurate definition, because the first dramaturgic work in Bulgaria is the comedy of Theodosius Ikonomov, "The Lovecycle Wanderer or Bella of the hunting poet Sahatchiya", published in 1863 but compiled as early as 1857.These are the comedy "Mihal", translated by Greek and adapted for the Bulgarian audience by Sava Dobroplodni, who organized her performance in Shumen, and the dramas "Multitudes Genoveva" and "Belisarius", placed by Krastyu Pishurka in Lom.The Bulgarian performances in the town began in the 1870s, when the two enthusiastic theaters - Dimitar Shishmanov and Nikolay Pavlovich - returned in their home country.Although it shows the influence of some tendencies of the Palaeologan Renaissance in the Byzantine Empire, the Tarnovo painting had its own unique features which makes it a separate artistic school.[15] Art historians classify its products into two types: The works of the school show some degree of realism, portrait individualism and psychology.[citation needed] Following the Liberation in 1878, fine arts rapidly recovered and came under the influence of European artistic currents such as late Romanticism.Famous for its rich salads required at every meal, Bulgarian cuisine also features diverse quality dairy products and a variety of wines and local alcoholic drinks such as rakia (ракия), mastika (мастика) and menta (мента).Tripe soup (шкембе чорба, skhembe chorba) takes as its basis the thick lining of the cleaned stomach of cattle, prepared with milk and seasoned with vinegar, garlic and hot peppers.Under Ottoman rule, the sultans allegedly preferred tripe soup made by Bulgarian cooks, whose mastery in preparing the dish remained unmatched in the Balkans.The rich soil, perfect climate and the millennia-old tradition of wine-making, which dates back to the time of the Thracians, contribute to the wide variety of fine Bulgarian wines.Bulgarian media have a record of unbiased reporting, although they are deemed potentially at risk of political influence due to the lack of legislation to protect them.[33] The extensive freedom of the press means that no exact number of publications can be established, although some research put an estimate of around 900 print media outlets for 2006.[35] Internet media are growing in popularity due to the wide range of available opinions and viewpoints, lack of censorship and diverse content.In the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries, missionaries from Rome converted Bulgarian Paulicians in the districts of Plovdiv and Svishtov to Roman Catholicism.The number of followers of Buddhism has increased gradually in recent years also due to the influx of Vietnamese citizens (predominantly Buddhist) to Bulgaria.
HistoryGolden AgeLanguageBulgariandialectsBanat BulgarianPeoplerace and ethnicityReligionArchitectureLiteratureCuisineFestivalsnewspaperscinemaInternetMythologyCostumesSymbolsCoat of armsScriptAnthemAnimalAdornmentInstrumentPatron saintWorld Heritage SitesKonstantin VelichkovThraciansancient GreeksScythiansancient RomansOstrogothsVisigothsWest SlavsVarangiansBulgarsBulgariatemplesgolden treasuresKukeriMartenitsaVarna NecropolisRazlogSlavic EuropePreslavOhrid Literary SchoolsCyrillic scriptalphabetwriting systemJohn Atanasoffdigital computerNicolai GhiaurovBoris ChristoffRaina KabaivanskaGhena DimitrovaAnna Tomowa-SintowVesselina KasarovaAlexis WeissenbergChristoPascinVladimir DimitrovMusic of BulgariaGadulkaMiddle AgesMedieval EuropeYoan KukuzelBulgarian Orthodox ChurchmonodicpolyphonicByzantine musicEastern Orthodox ChurchDobri HristovSofia Boys' ChoirMadrigalNicola Ghiuselevpolyphonymajor secondfolk musicKate BushGeorge Harrisonquarter toneBalkanNorthern BulgariaDobrujaShoplukThraceStrandzhaMacedoniaRhodopesChristmasSt. LazarusNestinarstvoState Ensemble for Folk Songs and DancesPhilip KoutevTrio BulgarkaBulgarian State Television Female Vocal ChoirLe Mystère des Voix BulgaresGrammy AwardValya BalkanskaVoyager Golden RecordBaba MartaKhan KubratOld Great BulgariaUNESCOUNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ListsPernikUNESCO World Heritage Sites in Bulgaria100 national tourist sitesMadara RiderSveshtariKazanlakBoyana ChurchRila MonasteryRock-hewn Churches of IvanovoSreburna Nature ReserveNesseburUNESCO's list of protected non-material cultural heritageNational Opera and Ballet of BulgariaGeorgi KaloyanchevStoyanka MutafovaRoza PopovaVasil GendovGeorgi PartsalevVelko KanevIossif Surchadzhiev