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Europe in Brussels part 12: Bulgarians in Belgium

23:46 02/03/2017
Bulgaria's national day is on 3 March. We speak to Bulgarians to find out more about their history and their community in Belgium

The Bulgarian national day is also known as Liberation Day. It marks the end of the Russo-Turkish war in 1878, when 500 years of Ottoman Empire rule came to an end. Officially, it only gained national day status in 1978. On top of this, Bulgarians had to wait until 1990 for it to become an official holiday.

According to the Bulgarian Embassy in Brussels, there are approximately 20,000 Bulgarians living in Belgium. One such expat is Vladislav Velev, a press officer in the European Parliament. He is originally from Pleven, a rural town in northern Bulgaria, and has been in Belgium for five years.

"Bulgarians come here to enjoy the labour market," he says. He explains that they work in several areas across Belgium – some moving to work for the EU institutions while others are involved in tourism as well as the building industry.

Nearly a third of Bulgaria is covered in forests. That might explain why Velev likes the many parks and green spaces that you can find in the city. Surprisingly, he is also a fan of the weather. "That might be odd," he says. "But it’s good for sport. I like running and it’s better to run in about 15 degrees than running in 40 degrees back in Bulgaria.” However, he does confess: "When I start to miss the sun a lot, I go somewhere sunny.”

Bulgarian dancing

A festival of Bulgarian culture has been running for six years and the last edition proved very successful. Music and dancing hold a prime position on these programmes, particularly the 'horo' dances. These are organised twice a year, for the national holiday as well as in the summer, by Bulgarian commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.

"It is a traditional folk dance which is danced by people who are in a form of circle, hand by hand”, Velev explains. There are more than 100 different variations of the dance and several dance troupes exist across Belgium. These troupes have a habit of bringing people together. In fact, one such group was founded by two Belgians in Liège who met at a dance, and then married. Now, they even make the traditional clothes and dancing shoes for the events themselves.

Another expat is Petya Popova, an employee in the communications department of the European Commission. Hailing from the capital, Sofia, she has also been in the country for five years. She says that in the summer you can join a big Bulgarian dance held on the Grand Place. "It's a big success because a lot of people go, not only Bulgarians but also tourists as there are a lot of tourists on the Grand Place," she says.

So what do the Bulgarians miss the most about their homeland? Popova says there is a big coffee drinking culture in Bulgaria that you can't find here. "In Bulgaria, you can stay there for hours. You can have different types of coffees, in a very nice atmosphere and very cosy."

There are Bulgarian produce shops that are scattered around Belgium, particularly in the community living in Ghent. A specialty that you might find in one of these is traditional yoghurt. Another delicacy is "boza" - a sweet, non-alcoholic fermented drink made of malt.

"In Bulgaria, there’s a tradition to have breakfast with boza and 'banitsa', a kind of dough pastry with eggs, feta cheese and spinach," says Velev. "It’s calorie-laden but very tasty."

Written by Laura Cain