Liberation Day - Bulgaria's National Day (Non-School Day)

The date of March 3rd commemorates the triumph of the national idea over the obsolete concept of a multinational empire. This is the end of the long transition that the Bulgarian people went through from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age (the 15th-19th centuries), during which the people had gained bitter experience and restored piece by piece the memory of their identity and past. At the same time, this is the beginning of an optimistic return of Bulgarian state to the European political map.
The road to the landmark date of March 3rd, 1878, was not easy. It was marked by dear sacrifices and blood, committed in the name of higher values, intended to serve the common good and created for love of the Fatherland. The foundation was the realization of the Bulgarians and their revival, bringing them together as a community, based not only on blood ties but also on common past, language, religion, territory, cultural specificities, and traditions they have shared for centuries. A series of events, marked the Bulgarian history with the common name Bulgarian Revival, contribute to this consolidation.
The initial momentum was given by the changed situation in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th-19th centuries, which was falling behind in the socio-economic and political development of Europe and on this occasion, it launched a series of reforms known as the Tanzimat era. During these processes, the Bulgarians not only found opportunity for economic initiative, but also caught up with the lofty ideas of the European enlightenment and the idea to be a nation. What was gained – financial resources, changed worldview, new contacts, and so on, they invested to overcome the traditional thinking. The direct expression of this was the struggle for secular education in Bulgarian teaching institutions (the early 19th century – 1820-1870), led by individuals as Vasil Aprilov, Neofit Rilski, Anastasia Dimitrova, Nayden Gerov, Dr Petar Beron and others. The Bulgarian acquired new knowledge and skills in mutual instruction schools and high schools. In the Bulgarian lands were opened schools by the Catholic and Protestant missions, such as the school in Plovdiv, opened by American missionaries in 1860. Today’s American College is its successor. In this atmosphere the Bulgarians also started a struggle for spiritual emancipation. Their self-confidence grew, especially after church’s legal independence from the Tsarigrad’s Patriarchate (1870 г.), in which the major role was played by Neofit Bozveli, Ilarion Makariopolski, Stefan Bogoridi, Aleksandar Ekzarch, and others of the so-called “Bulgarians of Tsarigrad”. All this, together with the perception of European ideas of national identity and state, and the accumulated revolutionary experience following the example of the neighboring Balkan liberation movement, became the basis of the national liberation struggle. A series of giant personalities followed: Georgi Rakovski, Vasil Levski, Lyuben Karavelov, Hristo Botev, Hadzhi Dimitar, Stefan Karadzha, Filip Totyu, Panayot Hitov, Angel Kanchev, Atanas Uzunov, Stefan Stambolov, Panayot Volov, Georgi Benkovski, Todor Kableshkov, Bacho Kiro, Vasil Petleshkov, and many others known and unknown heroes. Guided by duty, patriotic feelings, and lofty values, they offer themselves in the name of freedom of future generations. Soon after their sacrifice, the reaction of Europe and its “Great Powers” was not long in coming. Russia played a major role, starting a war with the Ottoman Empire, known in Bulgarian history as the Russo-Turkish Liberation War of 1877-1878. The military-strategic and technical experience of Russia on the one hand, and the holy cause of the Bulgarian people, which joined the Militia and its daily assistance on battlefields on the other, led to victory over the adversary. A preliminary agreement was signed in the suburbs of Istanbul - San Stefano, with which Bulgaria regained its freedom. And although a series of reversals, trials, backstage political games, and interfering of foreign interests, the halo of the liberation around March 3-rd remained.
Therefore, on 3 March we celebrate the freedom, advancement of national ideals, the overcoming of daily worries, conflicts, fights, and rivalries.
On 3rd of March, we remember the heroes and the high ideals that led their restless spirit to the pantheon of eternity.
On 3rd of March we pay tribute to the shining example that our ancestors bequeathed us to follow.
On 3rd of March timeless values and higher virtues triumph, including valor, honesty, integrity, courage, sacrifice, patriotism.
On 3rd of March we celebrate the new beginning of hope for a more optimistic future.