Slavic people across the world celebrate June 25 as the Day of Friendship and Unity of the Slavic people. Many among South and West Slavs don’t even know why is June 25 a holiday, while among Russians, Belorussians and Ukrainians it is widely more popular and well known. This is truly one of those people’s holidays and it originates from our common Slavic roots, our lingual and cultural bonds, and most importantly from a vision of a more stable Slavic part of Europe and Asia.
There is a total of more than 300 million Slavs around the world, and they make up the bulk of the population in present day 13 Slavic countries such as Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Serbia, Bulgaria and other.
The idea of the unity of the Slavic peoples
The idea of uniting Slavic people in one coherent group was a wish of many however the idea goes far back deep in our history, more precisely all the way back to the creation of a common written language of Saints Cyril and Methodius. These two scholars dubbed “Apostles to the Slavs” were among the first ones who have seen how Slavic people across Europe are plagued with inner conflicts, but also how Pagan Slavs were suffering from the fact they didn’t have a writing system or an alphabet.
Slavic friendship and unity day was first celebrated in 1957. in Soviet Union to celebrate the friendship between Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians. Ironically among South Slavs from 25th June 1991. Slovenia and Croatia celebrate secession from Yugoslavia on the very same day.
Today Cyril and Methodius are the most renown individuals in written history of any Slavic country as they have brought Glagolitic alphabet wildly popular among Croats, Poles, Slovaks, Slovenians, Bulgarians, and Cyrillic alphabet even today used by Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro and even several non-Slavic countries.
Photo: mospat.ruThe joint celebration of the Days of Slavic Written Language and Culture, which are connected with the celebration of educators of Cyril and Methodius, is contributed to the strengthening of ties of the Slavic peoples and the preservation of the spiritual community of the Eastern and Western Slavs.
A great contribution to the unity of the Slavs is made by the regional national-cultural associations across the world. On the Day of Friendship and Unity of Slavs, the countries in question hold events to revive centuries-old traditions and culture of Slavic peoples.
