On the last Saturday of March, we transition to summer time by moving our clocks one hour forward. This change will take place at 03:00 A.M. on the night of March 29 to March 30, which means we will lose an hour of sleep. We will return to standard time on October 25, with the clocks going back an hour on October 26.

The concept of daylight saving time dates back to Benjamin Franklin, the first US ambassador to France, who made a humorous suggestion in 1784. In a satirical letter to a Paris newspaper, he proposed that the clocks be adjusted to save daylight, encouraging people to rise earlier in the day. Franklin’s idea also included measures such as taxing window blinds and regulating candle usage.

Over a century later, in 1895, New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, driven by personal reasons, also proposed a similar idea. He wanted to gain more daylight in summer to assist with his study of insects. In 1907, William Willet, an English builder, also championed the concept after noticing that many people were still sleeping through the early summer daylight. His observations led him to advocate for advancing clocks in the summer.

By 1908, Port Arthur, Ontario, became the first place to adopt daylight saving time after a local businessman’s petition was approved. This led to other Canadian cities adopting the practice. However, the real push for daylight saving time came during World War I. On April 30, 1916, the German Empire adopted the practice, aiming to increase military efficiency and reduce indoor lighting needs. The UK followed suit, although farmers initially opposed the idea because they preferred longer daylight in the mornings to carry out agricultural work. In 1925, the UK permanently adopted daylight saving time.

In Bulgaria, the first change to summer time occurred on April 1, 1979, following the adoption of Decree 6 by the Council of Ministers. The clocks were moved forward by one hour each year, with the summer time period lasting until September 30. However, this decree was replaced in 1997 by Decree 94, which set the change to summer time at 3:00 AM on the last Sunday of March. The clocks are then adjusted back in October.