BULGARIANS ARE PATRIOTS AFTER A COUPLE OF DRINKS
Standart News
Sept 21 2009
Bulgaria
We are proud of our fore-fathers and we forget that we write history
too, says Rossen Petrov
– We celebrate Independence Day today but many Bulgarians actually do
not know exactly what happened on this day. Does the average Bulgarian
know Bulgarian history?
– On the one hand, like a typical Balkan person, the Bulgarian is proud
of the Bulgarian historical past but on the other hand, Bulgarians
generally do not know their past. I think one of the basic reasons
for this lies in the way History is taught and written as a whole in
Bulgaria because it has always been put to use to the ruling ideology.
– Is the Bulgarian a patriot?
– Perhaps the best description of the Bulgarian patriotism is that
we are patriots when at party. We all remember Bulgaria’s glorious
past when we drink a couple of rakias. When, however, the patriotism
should enter our everyday lives, we stop living up to it. Bulgarian
patriotism is a sort of a second-hand patriotism ? it is based on
memories from the past. When we switch on the TV and see the reports
about five legal cases against former ministers or about two dozens
accidents on the roads?
– The reality today maybe does not give us reasons for high national
confidence.
– We are successors of one of the oldest peoples in the world. An
ancient Armenian manuscript gives data about the Bulgarians, at
times when the English, German and French people did not exist. We
have all the right to be proud of our past but it is only up to us
to give grounds for national confidence today. Nobody will give it
to use ready-made.