---
title: 'Tanks Rolling Down the Streets of Sofia'
date: Thu, 05 May 2016 14:10:12 +0000
draft: false
slug: 'tanks-rolling-streets-sofia'
categories: ['Bulgaria']
tags: ['Armed Forces Day', 'Saint George', 'Sofia', 'Tanks']
description: "My evening commute is disturbed by tanks rolling down the street."
---

Last night my trolley ride home from downtown Sofia was interrupted by a police roadblock and some rather unusual traffic on Aleksandar Dondukov Boulevard.

{{< video src="tanks-in-sofia" >}}

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Welcome to Bulgaria, where military tanks roll down the streets of the country's capital in preparation for the annual [Armed Forces Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_Day) parade. I've seen a dozen or so airshows, but this takes the cake! Nevertheless, this was pretty surreal to see.

Bulgarian Holy War
------------------

Bulgaria's Armed Forces Day coincides with [Saint George's Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George%27s_Day) — you know, the [guy who is depicted as killing a dragon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_and_the_Dragon) in folklore and monuments all over Europe — on May 6th, as Saint George _is the patron saint of the Bulgarian Armed Forces_. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "Holy War."

**Update (May 6, 2016):** Discussions with at least three Bulgarians about the strangeness of having a patron saint for the army have been extremely unproductive so far.