MISLEADING ADVICE

Keeper of Warmth

Ever since times of yore Bulgarians have always cherished deep respect for the so called “keeper of warmth” in their family or tribal dwellings. In pagan times a dedicated priest carried out this task. Nowadays, the tradition is still alive as the ritual role of the “keeper of warmth” is bestowed upon the chief executive of the local Central Heating Company. He is a well respected figure loved by everyone in town. Very often, when his term of office is over, he moves on to live entirely on state’s expenses.

Bread and Salt

At official ceremonies in Bulgaria guests are often greeted by an offering of bread and salt. In accordance with tradition, the guest must tear off a piece of bread, dip it in the salt and swallow it. Afterwards he must produce a ripe tomato from his pocket, take a bite and offer it to the host as a gesture of friendship. Never attend ceremonial occasions unprepared – that is, without a tomato in your pocket.

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Queues

Lawn and Order

Bulgarians are extremely disciplined people. For example, in a public park, they will never sit on the bench specially designated for foreigners’ use. These benches are marked by the “Пази боята” sign.

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D.I.Y.

Hiking the Right Way

Fire Dance

In many Bulgarian restaurants, visitors are entertained by so-called nestinari, barefooted men and women dancing on burning embers. This is hard work, for which they get little pay. Show your appreciation by offering them a beer, or even better, pour several pints of lager onto the burning coals before the dancers get the chance to step onto them, thus facilitating their task.

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Cabbing

4estit 24 May

Beget Good Luck and Health

A typically Bulgarian Easter tradition is related to the candles which the Bulgarians hold in their hands during night mass on Good Saturday. A popular belief says that they must take them back home from the church extinguished, but without blowing them out themselves – thus bringing good luck and health. Try helping as many people with lit candles in the street as you can.

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Celebratory Meal

Reality Bites

Bulgaria is the land of plenty, when it comes to agricultural produce. Therefore, it is acceptable for customers at the produce markets or supermarkets to bite off pieces of fruit or vegetables, while deciding what to buy. Once you have bitten off a chunk of an apple, for example, you can either politely hand the rest back to the salesperson or just place it in the stack.

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Easy Riders

Chess Mates

There is always a great many people playing chess in the park opposite Bulgaria's National Theatre in Sofia. They wouldn't mind at all if you were to produce a piece of advice on their game, or even if you move one of their pieces on the board for them.

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Be Polite!

Then invited to a buffet party in Bulgaria, it is recommended that you demonstrate good manners, modesty and self-restraint by waiting for at least 45 minutes before tucking into the food and drinks.

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One Bulgarian Rose

Bulgaria's traffic police are the staunch and incorruptible guardians of law and order on the nation's roads. They would never dream of accepting money from any driver caught committing an infraction. The only way to appease these tough men is to keep a basket of flowers on the back seat, in order to present each of them with, for example, a rose whenever necessary.

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Ersatz Souvenirs

Guardian Angels

In Bulgaria, black Mercedes G-Class SUV's with identical numbers on the license plates are driven by public-minded citizens who serve as police assistants on voluntary basis. Do not hesitate to stop such a vehicle and ask the driver for assistance of any kind, from changing your flat tire to giving you a free lift to the nearest public convenience.

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30'

Jean-Pier, a 19-year-old lad from Rouen, was travelling across what was then the Ottoman Empire and, attracted by the natural beauty of the Danubian Plain, decided to settle there. As luck would have it, a 30-year-old Parisian named Olympia already lived near Dve Mogili.

According to the first, a girl from Gorna Oryakhovitsa went to a construction site to see how things were going. The lass, whose name some linguists claim to know, was so pretty that the washbasins just attached to the bathroom walls came off onto the floor. “The washbasins got ripped off!” the workers said.

There are three theories about how this popular idiom entered the Bulgarian language. The first dates it back to the 7th Century, the time when the Bulgarian state was founded by the proto-Bulgarian tribes who came to the Danube and first settled in what is today Romania. Khan Asparukh's horse went to the river to drink some water but slipped and fell in. The strong current hurled it downstream and Asparukh himself jumped into the torrent to rescue it.

What do William Shakespeare and Todor Zhivkov have in common?

Just likeWilliamShakespeare, who is considered responsible for the coinage over 1,700 words and phrases in the English language, including "housekeeping", "break the ice" and "the naked truth", the former number one Communist Todor Zhivkov also contributed his mite to the richness of Bulgarian. This is the only similarity between Tato, or "Dad", and the Bard, researchers claim, and give the popular idiom "This is not a dairy farm" as an example of the examateur actor's linguistic creativity.

In 1546, a band of French travelers carrying a rare variety of spearmint from Persia to Western Europe stopped in the region of what is now the Bulgarian town of Chirpan. The locals welcomed the strangers with open arms, and before long the Frenchmen discovered that the wines, cheeses, and women in Bulgaria were a lot nicer than those they had grown accustomed to in Flanders. Their leader, Pierre de Lemanche, offered a Bulgarian maiden a whiff of crushed spearmint leaves, in an attempt to impress her.