Holidays Bulgaria 2016
Finally the sunny days are over in Bulgaria. A good time to start thinking about and planning your holidays for 2016.
In many cases the days between the public holiday and the weekend are given as days off, and then compensated by a working Saturday later or earlier in the month. This goes for the the whole country on decision by the Government.
Here you will find an overview of the public holidays Bulgaria 2016, the most important name days and the school holidays in Bulgaria. And don’t forget, 2016 is a leap-year we have one more working day in 2016!
The Christmas holidays for this year (2015) are from December 24th till December 27th. The coming New Year’s holidays are from December 31st 2015 till January 3rd 2016. There will be one more working Saturday on December 12th this year.
The public holidays Bulgaria 2016
January 1st – New Year’s day
March 3rd – Bulgaria’s Liberation day (holidays from March 3 – March 6; and a working Saturday on March 12)
“On March 3rd Bulgaria celebrates the regaining of its freedom after being ruled for about 500 years by the Ottoman Empire. On this date, following a major military campaign lead by Russia against the Ottoman Empire in 1877-78, a peace treaty was signed in San Stefano, which led to the formation of modern Bulgaria.”
May 1st, 2nd – Easter
“On this day orthodox Christians mark Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Bulgarians celebrate it by having traditional Easter cozonac (a kind of sweetened bread) and decorating boiled eggs.”
May 1st – Labour day
May 6st – Saint George’s Day
“It is the official Bulgarian Armed Forces Day. It is celebrated as such all around the country and a traditional military parade is being organized every year in Sofia, the capital.It is also the most celebrated name day in Bulgaria.”
May 24th – The day of Bulgarian enlightenment and culture and the Slavic literacy. (holidays from May 21 – May 24; and a working Saturday on May 14)
“On this day Bulgarians celebrate the work of Saint Cyril and his brother Saint Methodius. They invented the first Slavic alphabet – the Glagolitic alphabet, which later became the Cyrilic alphabet, now used all around the Slavic world.”
September 6th -Unification Day (holidays from September 3 – September 6; and a working Saturday September 10)
“On this day Bulgarians celebrate the unification of Eastern Rumelia with the neighbouring Principality of Bulgaria back in 1885 thus forming modern Bulgaria.”
September 22nd – Independence Day Bulgaria (holidays from September 22 – September 25 and a working Saturday on September 17)
December 24th – Christmas eve
“Christmas eve is when the entire family gathers around the table. In Bulgaria Christmas eve is a bigger event than Christmas itself. Tradition dictates that there should be an odd number of meals on the table and all of them without meat, or any other animal products. This marks the end of 40 days of fasting.”
December 25th, 26th – Christmas
December 31st – New Year’s eve
School holidays 2015/2016
Christmas holidays
December 24, 2015 – January 3, 2016
Winter holidays
January 30, 2016 – February 7, 2016
Spring holidays for 1st – 11th grade
April 2, 2016 – April 10, 2016
Spring holidays for 12th grade
April 2, 2016 – April 4, 2016
When does the school year ends?
1 grade – 24th of May 2016
2 – 4 grade – 31st of May 2016
5 – 8 grade – 15th of June 2016
8 grade – classes with intensive study on foreign language accepted after 7th grade
30th of June 2016
9 – 11 grade – 30st June 2016
12 grade – 13th of May 2016
Most important name-days in Bulgaria
Bulgaria has a strong tradition in celebrating name-days. It is common that you congratulate a person having a name day and often special celebrations are held. See here the most important ones.
- January 1st – Vasilovden
- January 6th – Jordanovden
- January 7th – Ivanovden – St. John the Baptist
- January 18th – Atanasovden – St. Athanasius of Alexandria
- February 28th – Todorov den
- The sixth Sunday after the Great Fast – Cvetnitsa
- May 6th – Gergyovden
- October 14th – Petkovden
- October 26th – Dimitrovden
- December 6th – Nikulden
- December 27th – Stefanovden
A complete list of all the name-days you can find here.