Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius, the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature

The Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture, and of Slavonic Literature is an official Bulgarian holiday celebrated on 24 May. It honours the work of the Slavic enlighteners Cyril and Methodius, Bulgarian education and culture, and the creation of the Cyrillic alphabet at the Preslav Literary School. Cyril and Methodius were venerated in Bulgaria as equal-to-the-apostles from the time their disciples arrived in 886. Modern historiography credits Nayden Gerov with organising the first Revival-era celebration on 11 May 1851 at the "Sts Cyril and Methodius" diocesan school in Plovdiv. 11 May is the joint church feast of the two saints. After the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1916, the civic holiday moved to 24 May while the liturgical feast remained on 11 May. 24 May was first declared an official holiday of the People's Republic of Bulgaria in 1957, and became an official holiday of the Republic of Bulgaria on 15 November 1990. On 9 December 2020 the holiday was officially renamed from "Day of Bulgarian Education and Culture and of Slavonic Literature" to its current title. In 1892 Stoyan Mihaylovski wrote the school hymn "Vyrvi, narode vyzrodeni"; on 11 May 1901 Panayot Pipkov composed its music.