Posted
on September 22, 2015
You
know how sometimes colonies – like the 13 American colonies –
will declare independence, but then have to fight a war to make other
countries (especially the colonizing power) accept their
independence?
Well,
for Bulgaria, the opposite happened:
Bulgaria
was pretty much independent of the Ottoman Empire since 1878. There
was a little bit of lip service given by the Bulgarian government to
the Ottoman mucky-mucks, but really, the Bulgarians were ruling
themselves.
This
is called de facto independence. De facto is Latin for
“in fact, in reality.”
But
legally, on paper, Bulgaria still seemed to be part of the Ottoman
Empire. The Latin phrase for “in law” is de jure.
In
1908, Bulgaria wanted to take over all the regions inhabited by
Bulgarians but ruled by someone else, and unify all under the name of
“Bulgaria.” And to do that, Bulgaria had to be de jure
independent as well as de facto independent.
So
on this date in 1908, Bulgaria proclaimed its independence!
And
when I say “on this date”...
Actually,
if you or I would have been alive way back in 1908, our calendars
would not have read “September 22” on the day that Bulgaria
announced its independence! Instead, our calendar would have said
“October 5.”
Way
back I the mid-1700s, the American colonies and Great Britain joined
the growing number of countries using the Gregorian calendar, rather
than the Julian calendar. But other countries still clung to the O.S.
(Old Style) calendar. That makes writing history really complicated –
different nations were using different calendars that didn't match
day or even, at times, month. So whenever historians consult
resources, they have to figure out if dates given are Old Style or
New Style.
(Bulgaria
didn't convert to the Gregorian calendar until 1916.)
Check
out some of the things that make Bulgaria special:
Fields
of sunflowers are starting to fade and fall now, now that it's so
close to fall (like, um...tomorrow!), but they are gorgeous in late
summer!
There
can be ordinary, modern, suburban scenes like this...but then you
realize that these folks are waiting for shepherds to bring back
their goats and sheep from pasture. So...that' not what happens in
the suburb I live in, in So. Cal.!
The Rila Mountains are fairly close to Bulgaria's capital city, Sofia. And there are some lovely lakes in the Rila Mountains.
This cirque (glacier-formed hollow) holds seven lakes. They are called the Seven Rila Lakes. But, you know, in Bulgarian.
Belogradchik looks amazing! This is a medieval fortress among the famous Belogradchik Rocks.
Even though I've already written a bit about Buzludzha in an earlier post, I had to include it here, as well – it's that amazing. Click through to see more photos!
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
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