Halloween: An American Tradition in Bulgaria

Last year we weren't very inspired to celebrate American holidays in Bulgaria. We made a couple of weak attempts, but this year invigorated by our trip home we decided to approach them with a renewed sense of earnest and interest. Halloween isn't a holiday typically celebrated in Bulgaria. People know about it for sure (mostly from American t.v shows and movies), but it isn't celebrated with nearly the same fervor that it is at home. At the high schools people will dress up (though we've been told mostly as policemen and prostitutes) and there are some parades and parties but no trick or treating. We came back from the States armed with a plastic pumpkin, cookie cutters, and about 400 pieces of candy. We were just going to stick to celebrating at our works with our co-workers (and in my case kids) but our friend (and my tutor) Kate suggested a Halloween party. So we dressed up as cats, made some Halloween cookies, and brought along the pumpkin and some food coloring (for tinting our drinks blood red and witch green). On the bus we did get a few strange looks. It's not often cats ride the buses in Bourgas. They usually confine themselves to the trash cans. At the party we encountered two witches, a fortune teller and other less festive looking creatures, saw a carved pumpkin that would put many American pumpkins to shame, ate lots of food and enjoyed the company of our Bulgarian friends while telling stupid Laffy Taffy jokes and explaining the real way to eat a Candy Corn. Our cabbie on the way home even got into the holiday spirit by meowing at us as we entered and left the car.

Luckily this year Halloween fell on a friday which is my day for classes. So again I donned my Gabrovian cat costume and dragged my bags of candy to school. If nothing else I like to think I brought a little cheer to school that day. The looks I got were pretty priceless and it offered me a nice opportunity to walk around offering Americanski bon bonis. In classes I was surprized to find out how much my kids already knew about the holiday, but we reviewed some key words like coffin and zombie with the help of some flashcards Wil made. The morning of Halloween a package arrived for us - some friends from back home had sent pencils and stickers which helped make the day that much more special - thanks Jessica and Stephen!

At night we went to find the parade we had heard would be happening downtown and happened upon a fire-dancing performance instead. It was pretty wild and they were able to do some pretty intricate moves with only a few drops of the flaming balls here and there. All in all it was a spectacular Halloween in Bulgaria.