November 1 in Bulgaria is celebrated as the Day of National Revival Leaders. On this day, Bulgarians commemorate the work of Bulgarian educators, writers, revolutionaries and holy leaders in reviving the national spirit under the Ottoman rule and the pursuit of education and literature.
The holiday is noted annually by torchlight processions and is a public holiday in Bulgaria. Initially the holiday celebrates the educational, religious and revolutionary figures of the Bulgarian National Revival during 18-19th centuries. In a broader sense, this public holiday celebrates all current and former school, literary, theatre, music, and cultural figures who, though unknown to the general public contribute to the case for the spiritual growth of the Bulgarians.
This day is proposed and introduced in 1922 by Stoyan Omarchevski, then Minister of Education in the Alexander Stamboliyski led government. They picked this date, because it is also the day of St. John of Rila in the Orthodox Christian calender.
