24 May - Bulgarian Education and Culture

Bulgaria celebrates May 24 as the day of the Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slav Letters and it will be marked with nationwide festivities.

In the 9th century the Holy Brothers Sts. Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet and made the first translations in it. Their disciples introduced the alphabet in Bulgaria, putting the beginning of its journey to the world. Several centuries later, Patriarch Evtimii launched a literary reform and updated the alphabet, assuming that words are expression of the divine essence of things.
The Cyrillic alphabet has been in existence for more than eleven centuries, but it was introduced for the first time in the European Union after Bulgaria obtained full membership. The Bulgarian language brought the total number of "linguae europeae" to 23. With its adoption the alphabets in use across the Union got enlarged by one more - the Cyrillic.

The first celebration in commemoration of Sts Cyril and Methodius occurred 156 years ago in a Plovdiv school, currently after the name of the Saints.

Bulgaria celebrates May 24 as an official holiday under a decision of the National Assembly dated 30 March 1990.