FOREIGN STUDENTS LEARNED MORE ABOUT CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR TRADITIONS

18 December 2023

A cultural activity entitled The Bulgarian Christmas Traditions was held in the Language Center of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" with the foreign students from the preparatory course for language and specialized training on the eve of the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays. The event was organized and carried out by the Department of Foreign Language Education and Post-graduate Qualification.

The participants in the course listened to the lecture delivered by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dimitar Marinov with great interest. He resented the Bulgarian traditional rites in connection with the Christmas holiday. Emphasis was placed on typical Bulgarian customs related to the celebration of the Christian holidays - Christmas Eve and the Nativity of Christ, such as kneading ritual bread, preparing an odd number of vegetarian dishes, caroling, etc. Of particular interest was the information presenting the symbolic dimensions of the individual ritual actions during the Christmas
holidays. At the end of the class, the students also watched a film, through which they got an even clearer idea of the richness, beauty and grace of the Bulgarian traditional Christmas rituals.

The students expressed their satisfaction with the cultural and educational activity and declared their desire and willingness to actively participate in all subsequent events that are part of the university's cultural calendar.
The training in the preparatory course for language and specialized training for foreign citizens started on November 15, 2023. This academic year, nearly 50 foreigners from the following 14 countries are taking part in the course: Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Syria, Ghana, Serbia, Cuba, Iran, Great Britain, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, China and Azerbaijan.