Saints Cyril and Methodius Day

Cyril was canonized as a saint by the eastern Church, with the Roman Catholic Church canonizing him separately in 1880 along with Methodius. The two brothers are known as the "Apostles of the Slavs" and are still highly regarded by Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Cyril's feast day is celebrated on February 14 (Catholic Church) or May 11 (Orthodox Church). The two brothers were declared "Patrons of Europe" in 1980 (see Epistola Enciclica). St. Cyril Peak on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named for Cyril.

Saints Cyril and Methodius Day is a holiday, usually celebrated on 24 May in countries which observe Eastern Orthodox tradition, and on 5 July in countries that observe Roman Catholic tradition. It commemorates the creation of the Slavic Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets by the brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius. There is evidence that the Cyrillic alphabet was not created by Cyril and Methodius but by their pupil, Clement of Ohrid, but the alphabet bears Cyril's name nonetheless, and the evidence is still not enough to disprove that.) The celebration also commemorates the introduction of literacy and the preaching of the gospels in the Slavonic language by the brothers.

According to old Bulgarian chronicles, the day of the holy brothers used to be celebrated ecclesiastically as early as XI Century. The first recorded secular celebration of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Day as the "Day of the Bulgarian script", as it is traditionally accepted by Bulgarian science, was held in the town of Plovdiv on May 11, 1851, when a local Bulgarian school was named "Saints Cyril and Methodius", both acts on initiative of the prominent Bulgarian enlightener Naiden Gerov, although an Armenian traveller mentioned his visit at "celebration of the Bulgarian script" in the town of Shumen on May 22, 1803.

Nowadays, the day is celebrated as a public holiday in the following countries:

In Bulgaria it is celebrated on 24 May and is known as the Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day (Bulgarian: Ден на българската просвета и култура и на славянската писменост), a national holiday celebrating Bulgarian culture and literature as well as the alphabet. It is also known as Alphabet, Culture, and Education Day (Bulgarian: Ден на азбуката, културата и просвещението).