Koledni Kuponi

It's been a busy week here in Preslav. People are gearing up for Koleda (Christmas), and that comes with many, many kuponi (parties). I've had the pleasure of going to many of these, and want to share some of that Bulgarian Christmas magic with you all.

The week started with the annual Christmas concert at the obshtina (municipality), featuring multitudes of kindergarteners forgetting the words to techno versions of Bulgarian Christmas carols. I didn't think it was possible (think about this: Traditional Bulgarian Christmas carols remixed into techno and sung by Chalga stars, partially in English, then having little kids sing and dance to these crazy tunes while wearing traditional costumes) but Bulgaria proves me wrong again.


My band made a rare appearance and performed a song at the concert, wowing everyone with their skills. When I say “my band,” I’m talking about the rock band that my language tutor is in, and I go to their practices every once in a while since they’re right after my tutoring sessions. They’re called “Chernoriztsite” (the Black Shirts), and they have a wide repertoire of Bulgarian rock covers, and as well as English renditions of “I Want to Break Free” and “Hot Stuff.” I’ll try to record some of their stuff and will post it later.


While at the concert I met one of the nicest people I’ve ever seen here. His name is Joe and he comes from Tanzania. He’s lived here for 15 years now, and has a Bulgarian wife and 2 kids. He invited me over for tea and while there we talked (in English!) about life here in Bulgaria. It was one of the best times I’ve had so far in Preslav, and I can tell that we’re going to have a great friendship over the next couple of years.

The next party in the lineup this week was the orphanage Christmas party. Since many of the children at the orphanage go home for holidays, we had the big celebration this week. I feel I need to elaborate a bit more on this situation. Here in Bulgaria, many of the children at the orphanages aren’t “orphans” the way we would consider them to be (that is, without parents). Instead, many times children will be sent here if their parents cannot afford to raise them, but are still permitted to go back at certain times of the year, such as during holidays or vacations from school.

Anyway, the party was a big success, and even the staff was really into it. Pretty much from the day I got here the kids told me “You’re going to be Diado Koleda (Santa).” I didn’t know how to take this at first since I’m pretty sure I don’t have the credentials for the job. The direct translation of Diado Koleda is Grandpa Christmas, and I’m nowhere close to being a grandfather, I’m not 300+ pounds, and I don’t have a white beard. Still I donned the red suit, strapped on the beard and gave my jolliest ho ho ho. It was one of the most ridiculous things I’ve done so far here, but hey the kids loved it, so I guess I did something right.

The kids spent the rest of the day tearing into the chocolates they were given, and playing around with the little toys they got, as well as proudly wearing the scarves sent over from a previous volunteer in the States.

But that’s not the end of the festivities… Tomorrow I have a staff party at the nicest of the 3 restaurants we have here in town, where I’ll break out my best horo dancing, for which I’ve been taking a class in my free time. Horo is the traditional Balkan dance in which everyone makes a circle and does a pattern of moves while going around the circle. These can be really easy (like just kicking your foot a couple of times) to really elaborate patterns involving a lot of hopping, spinning and other craziness. That’ll be another post for sure. I seem to be building up a lot of topics to post about later, but I think they’re all interesting and worth spending a separate post on when I get the time and things slow down a bit (which will be after New Years probably).

Also on the agenda is the Yasli Christmas party, for which I’ve been commissioned to be the videographer. The kids have been practicing a couple of Christmas songs, most of which they still don’t know, but it’s really cute to see them try. Pictures to come.

On actual Christmas I’ll be traveling across the country to be with a bunch of friends, so that will definitely be fun, and I’ll be spending New Years here in Preslav (which seems to be a bigger deal than Christmas here in BG) with the kids.

Until next time…