This past summer, I returned to Bulgaria, where I served in the U.S. Peace Corps, for the first time in 10 years. I produced this travelogue after my trip:
I immediately noticed the interlocking pattern of shadows that fell from the canopy of deciduous and evergreen trees onto the tombstones covered in brambles and wildflowers on this 85-degree Thursday. Birds hovered overhead, cackling. Otherwise, it was peaceful in this secluded corner of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital.
My wife, sister-in-law and I were at the Central Sofia Cemetery on July 6 to pay our respects to loved ones. Many Bulgarians visit the graves of their closest relatives at least once yearly to lay flowers and whisper prayers.
The Orlandovtsi Cemetery, as the graveyard is also known, is the final resting place of a number of Bulgaria’s glitterati, literati and top politicos, including its first democratically elected president after the fall of communism in 1989, Zhelyu Zhelev. The graveyard is egalitarian, though — the once popular and powerful lie near average Bulgarians.
The cemetery is also a beautifully wild place where nature lives and breathes. Many, if not most, graves are covered by underbrush. To visit a gravesite, one cuts a path with clippers or tiptoes carefully through the overflowing vegetation.
This expansive graveyard, I thought, is a perfect reflection of Bulgarian philosophy on nature. With a population of nearly 6.9 million, Bulgaria is a rugged, mountainous nation that, through the centuries since its founding in 681, has remained a largely rural, agrarian state. Its bustling cities are rapidly progressing into the so-called “modern world,” with high-tech innovation leading the way.
In a deep sense, though, the heart of Bulgaria remains its countryside, to which most Bulgarians can trace their roots. Many own apartments in cities and small cottages in provincial villages, living part of the time in each. Preserving the bucolic side of Bulgaria, even in a cemetery, is a way of life. “Let nature be nature” is a common refrain among Bulgarians.
For the full story, click here.
