📅 ON THIS DAY IN BULGARIA, Monday 26 October
26 October belongs to Dimitar twice over: it is Dimitrovden, the name day of one of Bulgaria's commonest male names, and the day an artillery general from Koprivshtitsa called Dimitar Katsarov was born in 1866. If you know a Dimitar, you may have a visit to make.
What happened on this day
Dimitar Katsarov was born in Koprivshtitsa on 26 October 1866, the son of a priest, Father Iliya Katsarov, who took part in the April Uprising of 1876. He went to Sofia to study at the First Men's Gymnasium, entered the Military School there in 1883 and left it in 1887 as a sub-lieutenant in the 4th Artillery Regiment. When war broke out in 1912 he commanded the 5th Artillery Regiment, part of the 4th Preslav Infantry Division, a formation that, Bulgarian Wikipedia says, was created in Shumen in 1883 as the 4th Foot Brigade.
His regiment fought at Eski Polos on 9 October, Petra on 10 October and Karaagach on 16 and 17 October, where 34 Turkish guns were captured. On 18 October a detachment of two battalions and two batteries, formed on his proposal and under his command, hit the flank of the Turkish 17th Corps, which Bulgarian Wikipedia says fell back in panic. He received the Order of Bravery, fourth class, and became a colonel in 1913. In the First World War he commanded the 1st Artillery Brigade at Pirot and Leskovac, and at Sarsanlar in 1916. He was made major-general in February 1918 and Inspector of Artillery that October, asked to leave the service in 1919, and by 1933 chaired the Hunting Organisation; picture a retired Royal Artillery general taking the chair of a countrywide field-sports society and you have the idea. He died in Koprivshtitsa in July 1958, and his memoirs were published in Sofia in 2010.
Today's name days
Dimitar comes from the Greek Δημήτριος, which Bulgarian Wikipedia derives most probably from Demeter, goddess of the harvest, so "belonging to Demeter". Its saint is Demetrius of Thessaloniki, killed with a spear while praying in his cell and honoured by the city's people as its patron. The name is everywhere: third among Bulgarian men's names at the end of 2009, carried by about 133,000 men, and fourth by 2019. Premier League supporters will remember Dimitar Berbatov, who joined Tottenham in 2006 and Manchester United in 2008 and shared the 2010-11 Golden Boot.
Today also belongs to Dimitrina, Dimislava, Dimo, Dimka, Mitko, Mitka, Mita, Mitra, Deyan and Drago, among others, and the Bulgarian name-days guide has the wider family. The old rule, per Bulgarian Wikipedia, is to call unannounced with white flowers for the celebrant, wound with a red thread, so that the winter is mild and the celebrants stay healthy. Say честит имен ден (chesh-TEET ee-MEN den) at the door, and expect mutton gyuvech or a chicken stew, made with a cockerel for a man and a hen for a woman, alongside boiled maize, pumpkin and baked apples. Folk belief makes this the start of winter: "Georgi brings summer, Dimitar winter", as the proverb goes.
Towns celebrating today
Sliven keeps 26 October as its town day. Bulgarian Wikipedia knows it as the City of the Hundred Voivodes, tied to the haiduk movement, and counts its symphony orchestra, with those of Ruse and Shumen, among the earliest classical orchestras founded after the Liberation. The page on Dimitrovden adds Bolyarovo, Vidin, Aytos and Radomir, and our calendar data also lists Beloslav, Glavinitsa, Pordim and Shivachevo.
Why this matters for British expats
If you live in Shumen, the city turns up twice today: Katsarov's division was formed here in 1883, and the city's orchestra is named beside Sliven's above; our Shumen guide covers the city itself. The practical point is simpler. If a Dimitar, Mitko or Dimitrina is among your neighbours, colleagues or tradesmen, white flowers and a честит имен ден are the customary greeting.
Sources and further reading
This piece draws on the Bulgarian Wikipedia entry on Dimitar Katsarov, read alongside Bulgarian Wikipedia's pages on Dimitrovden, the name Dimitar, the 4th Preslav Infantry Division and Sliven, and English Wikipedia's page on Dimitar Berbatov. Katsarov has no English-language entry in our data, so his career details come from the Bulgarian page alone.