Snejana Iovtcheva
Program Coordinator and Registrations
snejana@bg-school.org
The Liberation Day, officially known as the Day of Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Oppression, is the national holiday of Bulgaria, celebrated on March 3th. It commemorates the Liberation of Bulgaria during the events of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian statehood.
On this exciting occasion, students from the Bulgarian School in Boston participated in two meetings with Prof. Plamen Petkov. The young students of the early grades learned how Bulgarians were dressed more than 150 years ago and what their houses looked like. They also learned what guns the Opalchenci (bulgarian voluntary army units) used during the famous Shipka battle used and where we can see authentic letters written by the bulgarian hero Vasil Levski. The guest showed many photos and short films, presented interesting facts - such as the creation of the first grammar of the modern Bulgarian language and the Tarnovo dialect, which was chosen as the literary language. These stories sparked interesting questions and discussions.
During the second meeting with the junior high school students, Prof. Petkov presented additional facts from the Liberation of Bulgaria - such as how the United States of America and people from Massachusetts contributed to the Bulgarian revival. The students also learned about the war journalist Januarius MacGahan, who played a key role during the Bulgarian Liberation.
Prof. Plamen Petkov is the author of the most successful Bulgarian series - "The Bulgarians". He also has a YouTube channel with informative videos about Bulgaria and he currently works at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. We thank him for this visit and for his ongoing cooperation with our school!
