Children are impatient to sink into the magic of Christmas. Pupils in all Bulgarian schools make Christmas decorations, learns songs and the symbolism of the Bulgarian customs linked with Christmas Eve and Christmas. The Bulgarian weekend schools abroad which are called to ignite the flame of patriotism in the children of the Bulgarian emigrants make no exception. The Christmas parties organized by these schools become a true celebration for the Bulgarian communities abroad. Thus, the Bulgarian emigrants can feel part of their home country, although they live thousands of miles away. The children are very excited with the forthcoming Christmas, the principal of Vasil Levski weekend school in the Spanish town of Alicante Lyubov Ilieva told Radio Bulgaria. Some pupils return to Bulgaria to celebrate the Christmas holidays with their grandparents and relatives and the rest prepare a real party in Alicante. This year we decided to put the accent on Christmas Eve, Mrs Ilieva went on to say and added:

“Children will be dressed in traditional folk costumes. They will recreate Christmas Eve marked in an ancient Bulgarian house where the oldest man in the family choses the Yule log. The kids will present their parents all ancient customs and traditions during the play. This is a very difficult task, because these children live abroad and it takes time to learn why people wear traditional folk costumes for instance and why people were dressed in these costumes in the past. We will recreate all activities of the members of a traditional Bulgarian family during the preparation for this feast. We will also make pretzels, survachki (decorated cornel twigs used to perform a custom to wish a prosperous New Year).The classes in the towns of Torrevieja and Elche are attended by younger children. This year they will present the fairytale The Gigantic Turnip. The Christmas party in Elche and Torrevieja will be on December 17 and the one in Alicante- on December 23.”

The Bulgarian children in Alicante started to learn Bulgarian language during the 2009-2010 School Year. Later, in 2012, their school entered the list of weekend schools of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science and the ministry started to pay for textbooks, notebooks and other school supplies. Seventy children attend the Saturday classes in this Bulgarian school. They learn Bulgarian language, literature, history and geography. "We use textbooks and notebooks made especially for the Bulgarian children abroad. The teachers are great and children are happy in this school which is the first Bulgarian school in Alicante and the region", Lyubov Ilieva says and adds:

“I do not know exactly how many Bulgarians live here, but you can hear Bulgarian speech if you take a walk through the town. We launched the Progress Association in support of this Bulgarian school. The people are very active and work voluntarily to solve topical problems. The Bulgarian community in Alicante is not that small at all. All Bulgarians living in this town known the address of our school and attend our Christmas parties and the celebrations on other major holidays such as Bulgaria’s National Liberation Day on March 3 and the Day of Slavonic Script marked on May 24. These holidays unite the Bulgarians abroad.”

Some guests from Bulgaria will also visit the school in Alicante this Christmas:

“Some children will be visited by their grandmothers for Christmas. Recently a history teacher visited our school on the National Enlighteners’ Day - November 1. She was very happy to mark this day with us and said she had not seen such a festive celebration of the National Enlighteners’ Day even in Bulgaria. She asked us how we did it. I told her that we have been trying to celebrate all major Bulgarian holidays, preserve the Bulgarian culture and pass it down to the future generations. The children in our school are now learning the Bulgarian history and traditions, but later they will pass them down to their children and grandchildren.”

English version: Kostadin Atanasov