The Day of Bulgarian Liberation from Ottoman Rule: Commemorative Practices in the Political Context of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

rule. Against the present geopolitical situation on the Balkans and in the context of Bulgarian-Russian relations, 3 March — the day when the San Stefano Peace Treaty of 1878 was signed which is also Bulgaria’s national holiday — customarily precipitates political comments and controversial statements of government officials. While Bulgarian-Russian political relations in the last quarter of the nineteenth century were rather complicated, they became the backdrop of the shaping of the tradition of celebrating the Liberation Day; the commemorative activities and interpretation of the day’s significance were closely interwoven with the political trends and the ambitions of the governments in Sofia. The paper examines the process of establishing the tradition of celebrating the Liberation Day in Bulgaria in the context of the dynamics of the Bulgarian-Russian political relations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century