During the Communist years, Christmas was just another work day. The birth of Christ was an ancient memory held to the hearts of but a few. All of the joy, all of the tradition, the gifts and the family celebration was focused upon the New Year's celebrations. In Bulgaria and across much of Eastern Europe, today is one of the two biggest holidays on the calendar. Nobody knows how to ring in the new year like Bulgaria!
Poised as we are at the foot of the mountain Vitosha, the fireworks display is breathtaking. As we stand in our back yard, we can do a full 360 degree panorama and watch the sky alight in a vivid array of colors. What makes it all the more amazing is the fact that these are individuals sending up their own sparks of genius into the new year's sky. There are no pyro-technic companies coreographing colors to rhythms. This is just raw creative talent and it is worth the freezing temperatures to take it all in.
Friends who live in apartments within the city mentioned that they had been 'enjoying' their neighbor's fireworks displays for days now - bottle rockets launched from their small balconies or firecrackers dropped from the 7th floor to the pavement below and more often than we care to think about, guns being shot in lieu of the chineese gun powder.
For us, New Year's has taken on a special intensity of celebration that surpasses the New Year's Eve pot lucks and board games that we grew up with in America. The New Year does not come quietly or peacefully to Bulgaria's doorstep but the eastern sky is indeed alight with the message of new birth.
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