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Bulgarians set clocks one hour back for winter time

published on 10/27/24 10:41 AM

Photo: BGNES

At 4 a.m. this morning Bulgaria switched to winter (astronomical) time. The hands of mechanical clocks had to be turned back an hour and show 3 o'clock. Most computers and mobile phones did this automatically.

The so-called winter time is what we use from October to March.

Daylight saving time is used to get a better match between the daylight hours and the active hours of workers and students.

Switching of the clocks in Europe was introduced in 1976 at the request of France. In Bulgaria, this practice came into force in 1979.

By decree of 1997, daylight saving time time begins at 3:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of March.

The idea of changing the time first came to Benjamin Franklin. He wrote a letter to the editor of the Paris Journal newspaper in 1784, suggesting that Parisians rise and go to bed earlier. In practice, the idea was implemented by the German government during the First World War in the period 30 April - 1 October 1916 as a measure to save fuel in a military environment. Britain was the second country to introduce daylight saving time initially from 21 May to 1 October 1916. The US followed suit in 1918.

In March 2019, the European Parliament voted to abolish the seasonal time change.

Member States decide on their own whether to switch entirely to summer or winter time.

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Radio Bulgaria News astronomical time daylight saving time winter time

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