Bulgarian,
some Turkic languages
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• Culture influenced by Byzantine, Greek, Russian, and Western cultures.
• They value education (100% literacy rate), the arts and literature and have more than 200 museums in the country.
• In rural areas Bulgarians live in single-family houses; most urban dwellers live in apartments
  
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• Bulgarian Orthodox

Death Concepts/Rituals

• Bulgarian peasants typically set aside the first fruits of the land for the dead, before any of the produce is consumed, to ensure good crops for the future.
• The dead are thought to have influence over the productivity of the land.
• At a funeral hot bread or grains are passed out to those present.
• These offerings are said to please and nourish the deceased, and again help maintain the ties between the living and the dead.
  
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• Breakfast is a bread-based snack on the run – they will eat banitsi - cheese pastries, often washed down with boza, a gluggy millet drink which is an acquired taste.
• Lunch is the main meal of the day.
• Main Bulgarian foods are Lamb, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, and yogurt.
• Typical meal: Cucumber salad and yogurt or bean soup and shish kebab.
• Lokum (a nut-filled pastry) is a common dessert.
• Wine and Brandy are of high quality.
  
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• Every year on the 1st of March, the Bulgarians give each other 'martenitsas' - small figures made of white and red threads, a symbol of the awakening, of spring, health and happiness.
• Soccer is the most popular sport.
• Bulgarians waggle their heads Indian-style to mean yes, and nod to mean no.
  
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