Siren blasts

Yesterday at midday the sound of birdsong was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a siren blasting. If this had happened in Israel we would probably have been running for the nearest bomb shelter, but here in Voditsa it simply aroused our curiosity, so off we went to Baba Tzonka to find out what it meant. It turns out that June 2nd is Hristo Botev day, commemorating the death of the Bulgarian revolutionary hero of that name. A minute's silence is observed throughout the country as a sign of respect as people stand to honor the memory of those who have given their lives serving the country (not unlike our own Remembrance Day which was observed a few weeks ago). Baba proceeded to sing us one of the patriotic songs associated with the day and strangely enough it was the one that our neighbor Dancho had taught us the night before (we had been talking about army service and he remembered it as one of the songs the soldiers sung on their way to the dining hall) - so we were able to join in, a bit. Later in the day Baba popped over to help me plant some pepper seedlings and sang us yet another patriotic song ... you can check them out in the video clip!