Vesela Koleda!

The title of the post means "Merry Christmas" in Bulgarian. It's a little difficult to come up with a good blog post for Christmas. I think it's probably traditional to talk about giving Christmas presents to homeless children or something of that sort, so in line with tradition, I'll talk about something else. You should still give presents to homeless children, mind you.

Christmas in Bulgaria has the curious distinction of being a less commercial holiday with a stronger religious focus. While I believe this is fading from year to year, there is a rather curious reason for this, and it has to do with Communism.

The Communists were ideologically atheist, and as often happens when one group assumes their ideology is superior, they went to great lengths to weaken the influence of religion in their countries. Religious freedom in Bulgaria was heavily curtailed, with Eastern Orthodox churches sometimes raided by the police on Easter and Christmas and the attendees arrested. Even so much as attending church became an act of bravery and political defiance, and possession of Bibles in the home was outlawed.

As part of this campaign of religious eradication, the Communists wanted to stop the Christmas holiday. Christmas traditions, however, were and are as popular in Bulgaria as anywhere, and attempting to wipe them out directly would have met with strong resistance and popular disgust. Rather than tackle this head on, they simply moved most of the major traditions to New Year's day. Bulgarians would set up trees, put up lights, and have presents delivered by a man who wears white and red named "Grandpa Frost," all for New Years day.

The curious side effect of this is that Christmas was left with only its religious aspects -- it was a day to remember the birth of Jesus, and nothing else. Of course, once the Communist yoke was lifted, the Bulgarians were free to celebrate Christmas the western way if they wished, and the traditions have been drifting a few days backward ever since.

So remember today the priceless gift of freedom to worship God "according to the dictates of our own conscience." Merry Christmas everyone.