July Morning

July Morning, known in Bulgarian as Dzhulay, is a Bulgarian tradition associated with the hippie movement. It involves welcoming the sunrise on 1 July. This symbolic greeting of July's first rays is interpreted as the beginning of something new and an expression of the participants' hopes for a better future.

The tradition takes its name from the well-known 1971 song “July Morning” by the English rock band Uriah Heep. Every year, on the night of 30 June into 1 July, many people gather along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast to welcome the sunrise together. The ritual is inspired by the song's lyrics. Although the tradition arose under the influence of the worldwide hippie movement of the 1960s and 1970s, it continues in Bulgaria and survives as part of the country's cultural heritage. Many people associate the celebration with protest against communist rule, expressed through the content and impact of the song “July Morning”. Following the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria, July Morning continued, although the original idea of Bulgaria's first hippie movement changed over time.

July Morning is unique to Bulgaria in its character and is not observed in other countries in Europe or elsewhere in the world. This hippie celebration began in Varna in 1985 (or in 1980, according to other sources), when a group of young people with guitars gathered on the breakwater to play, sing and welcome July's first sunrise. This informal ritual became a tradition maintained every subsequent year.