If you are visiting plovdiv on the 24th if March you will have the oportunity to see how we, Bulgarians celebrate the creation of   our alphabet by the brothers and Bulgarian Saints Cyril and Methody.

The brothers Cyril and Methody were born in Thessaloniki (today in Greece) but they practiced missionary work in the middle east and the Slavic countries. They created the first alphabet used in Slavic manuscripts – the Glagolic alphabet. Later on they created the more elaborate Cyrillic alphabet named after one of the brothers.

The creation of the Cyrillic alphabet marks a great point in Bullgarian history.

They  were the first to translate the Bible in Slavic which was historicly very important for all the Slavic countries because until then only those who knew Hebrew, Latin оr Greek could read the Bible or understand the sermons (which until then were held in Greek, although the population did not speak the language). The creation of the alphabet held an extremely important role for the separation and distinction of the Bulgarian church from the Greek one.

The day of the brother saints is celebrated by Bulgarian pupil, students teachers and universities. There are Processions on the main streets of towns, flowers are put in front the statues of the saints and many schools hold recitals

During those celebrations the Anthem of the Brothers Cyrill and Methody is sung and you can  hear it here :   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLcqe368uik