All Christians in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Orthodox majority and the Catholic and Protestant minorities, celebrate the Annunciation.

According to the Bible, the Annunciation is the revelation to Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, by the Archangel Gabriel that she would conceive a child to be born the Son of God. It is believed to have taken place in the village of Nazareth

The Annunciation is especially important in Eastern Orthodoxy because it is the action initiating Christ's Incarnation. Thus, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is always celebrated on March 25.

The most complicated Orthodox liturgy, the so called Kyriopascha, occurs when Pascha (Easter Sunday) coincides with the Annunciation (March 25). However, this is not the case in 2008.

In Bulgarian the Annuciation is called Blagoveshtenie, which literally means "the coming of the good news".

Together with the Annunciation, the Bulgarians also celebrate the traditional holiday Blagovets, which has its roots in the national folklore legends and superstitions. It had several meanings developed into a complex system of traditional believes.

Bulgarians believed this was the day when the cuckoo would sing for the first time in the year. Depending on what they were doing when they heard the signing of this bird, and depending on how it sounded, they would make different predictions about their lives and well-being in accordance with a rather complicated set of legends.

On Blagovets day, the Bulgarians also used to clean their homes and to light ritual fires. They used to gather around them and sing folklore songs. At these meetings young men and women would pick their future love as the spring was believed to be the appropriate seasons for that.

The Blagovets holiday also has another even more magical and secret meaning. This is the day when the woodland fairies found in the South Slavic folklore and called samodivi in Bulgaria, reappear in the rivers and lakes after they have spent the winter somewhere far away. The fairies are very secretive, and dangerous because they could kidnap anyone who encroaches upon their territory, and take them into another world.

Another folklore belief about Blagovets is that this is the day when all snakes and lizards wake up and crawl out. The Bulgarians thought it was a sign to kill a snake but on that day they always tried to chase them away from their homes.

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