Philosophical, sceptical and with a brooding sense of humour, Bulgarians can initially appear reserved – but this soon gives way to warmth and wit. Having seen their national identity crushed over centuries of brutal foreign occupation, most Bulgarians are fiercely proud of their history and weave it into modern daily life. Look out for young people wearing T-shirts emblazoned with 19th-century heroes such as Vasil Levski, or attaching martenitsi, ancient pagan good luck charms, to their iPhones.
After five gruelling centuries of occupation under the Ottoman Empire came the National Revival, under which Bulgaria’s culture and language freely flourished. More recently, four decades of totalitarian communist rule fell away, necessitating another phoenix-like renaissance. The hardships endured by generations of Bulgarians have sharpened national pride and tinged the country’s psyche with a worldly-wise, cynical outlook on life, while high levels of corruption and uneven economic fortunes have taught them not to expect too much of politicians and bureaucrats.
On the whole, Bulgarians are welcoming and hospitable. Most are eager that you leave their country with good impressions, though in many places, a hint of Soviet inflexibility colours the service industry. Still, most Bulgarians are informal and easy-going, and delight in social get-togethers fuelled by plenty of alcohol. Bulgarians have rather freer attitudes toward personal space than most Western Europeans; don't be surprised if strangers ask to join you at tables in restaurants if no other seats are available.
Young people are especially curious about visitors to their country; they are usually highly engaged with European and worldwide politics.
Like many other Eastern European nations, Bulgaria remains a largely conservative and traditional society. Macho culture prevails. Attitudes toward women can be old-fashioned, especially in rural areas – despite women in these communities carrying clout in agricultural and domestic decision-making. Cities are more progressive, though excessive chivalry is occasionally used as a form of chauvinism.
Hostility toward the LGBT community is not uncommon. Many Bulgarians believe gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals should remain closeted; there is even less understanding of transgender people. Fortunately, younger, urban Bulgarians are bucking the trend, though change is slow.
Rural life goes on much as it has done for the last century or so. You'll still see headscarfed old women toiling in the fields and donkeys pulling carts along the dirt tracks running through tumbledown villages. Meanwhile, in cities Western boutiques, casinos and strip clubs have proliferated. Pouting, scantily clad women are popular motifs used for advertising everything from alcohol to shopping centres, while a profusion of strip clubs and escort agencies has appeared in the big cities, colourfully touted in tourist magazines alongside reviews of restaurants and museums.
Despite invasions and occupations throughout its history, Bulgaria remains a fairly homogenous nation, with around 80% of the population declaring themselves Bulgarian.
In the mid-1980s the government mounted a program to assimilate the country’s Turkish inhabitants (then 10% of the country) by forcing them to accept Bulgarian names. Mosques were also closed down and even wearing Turkish dress and speaking Turkish in public were banned. Mass protests erupted, and in early 1989 about 300,000 Turkish Bulgarians and Pomaks left for Turkey (though many subsequently returned to Bulgaria when the repressive policies were overturned).
Relations between Bulgarians and the ethnic Turkish minority have improved since, but racial tensions remain. Far-right political parties have received increasing support over recent years and new ones established, like the 2013-founded Nationalist Party of Bulgaria, which has drawn comparisons to Greece's extremist Golden Dawn. Their aggressively nationalistic rhetoric has been directed against both Turkish Muslims and Roma. There have also been violent attacks on Roma neighbourhoods, while Syrian refugees have also suffered xenophobic attacks.
Bulgaria’s Roma, who form roughly 4% of the population, suffer disproportionate rates of unemployment, social deprivation, illiteracy, poverty and prejudice. They tend to live in ghettos and can be seen begging on the streets all over the country. Along with other East and Central European nations, Bulgaria signed up to the Decade of Roma Inclusion program from 2005–15. In terms of employment opportunities and raising awareness of Roma exclusion, some inroads were made, but effects are slow to trickle down (particularly for remote communities) and prejudice remains widespread.
Bulgaria is home to about 200,000 Pomaks, the descendants of Slavs who converted to Islam during the Ottoman occupation in the 15th century. In the past, they have been subjected to the same assimilatory pressures as the Turks. Some villages in the Rodopi Mountains are almost entirely Pomak, and there are small communities around Ruse and Lovech.
Orthodox Christianity has been the official religion since 865, though modern Bulgaria is a secular state that allows freedom of religion. The majority of the population – around 60% – still professes adherence to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, although only a fraction of this number regularly attends church services.
In the 2011 census, about one-quarter of Bulgarians did not declare a religion, most of them young people from cities such as Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. Protestant and Catholics together formed less than 2% of the Bulgarian population.
Roughly 10% of the population is Muslim – ethnic Turks, Pomaks and many Roma. Over the centuries the Islam practised in Bulgaria has incorporated various Bulgarian traditions and Christian beliefs and has become known as Balkan Islam.
There’s also a tiny Jewish population, mainly living in Sofia.