Portal:Bulgaria

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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located west of the Black Sea and south of the Danube river, Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the 16th largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna.

Bulgaria has an upper-middle-income economy, ranking 70th in the Human Development Index. Its market economy is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by industry—especially machine building and mining—and agriculture. The country faces a demographic crisis; its population peaked at 9 million in 1989, and has since decreased to under 6.4 million as of 2024. Bulgaria is a member of the European Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, and the Council of Europe. It is also a founding member of the OSCE and has taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council three times. (Full article...)

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To farmers of eastern Europe, the ala was a demon who led hail and thunderstorms over their fields, ruining their crops.

An ala or hala (plural: ale or hali) is a female mythological creature recorded in the folklore of Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Serbs. Ale are considered demons of bad weather whose main purpose is to lead hail-producing thunderclouds in the direction of fields, vineyards, or orchards to destroy the crops, or loot and take them away. Extremely voracious, ale particularly like to eat children, though their gluttony is not limited to Earth. It is believed they sometimes try devouring the Sun or the Moon, causing eclipses, and that it would mean the end of the world should they succeed. When people encounter an ala, their mental or physical health, or even life, are in peril; however, her favor can be gained by approaching her with respect and trust. Being in a good relationship with an ala is very beneficial, because she makes her favorites rich and saves their lives in times of trouble.

The appearance of an ala is diversely and often vaguely described in folklore. A given ala may look like a black wind, a gigantic creature of indistinct form, a huge-mouthed, humanlike, or snakelike monster, a female dragon, or a raven. An ala may also assume various human or animal shapes, and can even possess a person's body. It is believed that the diversity of appearances described is due to the ala's being a synthesis of a Slavic demon of bad weather and a similar demon of the central Balkans pre-Slavic population. In folk tales with a humanlike ala, her personality is similar to that of the Russian Baba Yaga. Ale are said to live in the clouds, or in a lake, spring, hidden remote place, forest, inhospitable mountain, cave, or gigantic tree. While ale are usually hostile towards humans, they do have other powerful enemies that can defeat them, like dragons. In Christianized tales, St. Elijah takes the dragons' role, but in some cases the saint and the dragons fight ale together. Eagles are also regarded as defenders against ale, chasing them away from fields and thus preventing them from bringing hail clouds overhead. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that one of the highest death rates in the Holocaust was in Bulgarian-occupied Greece, where 97 percent of Jews were killed in less than a month?
... that Tsvetana Jermanova survived imprisonment in two forced labour camps in communist Bulgaria?

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Gallery

Image 1Sofia is the biggest city in Bulgaria.
Image 2Danube river in Bulgaria
Image 3Varna lake is a salt lake near Black sea.
Image 4Razgrad is a city in East Bulgaria.
Image 5Maritsa is a river in South Bulgaria.
Image 6Rila is a mountain in West Bulgaria
Image 7A beach in Bulgaria.

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Credit: Gérard Janot

The Church of Christ Pantocrator is located on the peninsula of Nesebar, Bulgaria. The church, along with the entire island and all of the historical structures are protected by UNESCO.

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More did You Know?

...that the Zograf Monastery (pictured) on the Holy Mountain was burnt down by a Catalan pirate raid in 1275?

...that Mandritsa is known as the only Albanian village in Bulgaria?

...that the Banat Bulgarian Stefan Dunjov participated in both the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the Italian unification, and was the first Bulgarian to be promoted to the rank of Colonel?

...that Ivan Bogorov, who published the first Bulgarian newspaper in 1846 in Leipzig, was also an ardent supporter of Bulgarian linguistic purism and was known for his often amusing neologisms?

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