My heartfelt thanks to Chavdar Dimov for allowing me to publish this interesting story.

I've always been interested in how and when exactly the July Morning holiday, inspired by the song of the same name by the British hard rock band Uriah Heep, began to be celebrated. It is known that the song July Morning is from the album Look At Yourself, released in 1971.

It is also known that Julaya originated in Varna, but there are several different versions of how and when. The most common of them is that in 1980, on the South Beach in Varna, 4-5 people, at the idea of the late Violin Stanković - Penguin (born 1962 and died 2004 - founder, guitarist and vocalist of the Varna hard rock and heavy metal band Lucifer), decided to spend a night on the beach and watch the sunrise in the morning. After that, they agreed to gather every summer on that day. In the fall, most of them entered the barracks and until 1983 inclusive they did not have the opportunity to gather, because they were sent as soldiers to different parts of the country. Therefore, the next gathering on this occasion was in 1984, then - in 1985, still on the South Beach in Varna...

In recent years, I have had the opportunity to meet some of the founders of Julaia, and thanks to their stories, the beginning of the story became clear once and for all (at least for me).

In the summer of 2015, one late afternoon, we were at the Rolbata on the South Beach in Varna with my friend Antonia Pasheva – Tona (born in 1972). We decided to stay at the table under the umbrella until the evening, having a beer (or other drinks – I don’t remember anymore). At some point, Krisa (Kristiyan Hristov, born in 1966), whom I had not known before, came to us. After Tona introduced us, a pleasant conversation formed and by chance we talked about Julaya, who had recently passed away, and I shared that I was interested in the history of the holiday.

from left to right: Purple, Yours, Violeta, Commissioner, Churchill, Angela, Joro Edrev; in front of them: Ivan – Gafa

“You’ve come to the right person,” said Chrissa, adding: “I’m one of the people we started getting together with on the evening of July 1st and welcoming the Sun in the morning, every year.” I suggested that I tell him what I had heard, and he could add more details. After listening to me, he immediately objected: “Nothing like that! At the beginning and in the next few years, we didn’t meet on South Beach, but on the lighthouse on the breakwater.” And he continued: “In the evening, we were at Penguin’s birthday party and we were partying. It got late and his mother told us to go. No one wanted to go home, so we all went out and headed to the beach. There were about 15 of us. On the way, Penguin suggested: “How about we have an evening in honor of Uriah Heep’s song – July Morning? Tomorrow is July 1st, right? Let’s go to the breakwater and stay there until sunrise.” We all agreed, we went to the breakwater, all the way to the lighthouse and there we met the Sun in the morning. All this happened quite spontaneously. We didn't decide it in advance. I don't remember even agreeing to celebrate it the following year. I think rather that the following year one of us thought of it and suggested that we get together again, for this occasion...

from left to right, sitting: Little Lidka, Joro – Cowherd, Crazy Vanche, Julien; standing: Svetlyo – Gorilla, Natashka, Stefan – Keko, Krisa

So, for the first 4-5 years, we always greeted Julaya at the lighthouse. I don't remember exactly when or why we stopped going there and started welcoming the sunrise in other places. But let's hear what Victor remembers - he was also with us then," said Chris and turned to a man who had laid down on the sand, 7-8 meters from us, collecting the last rays of the sun before sunset, and who up to that point had not shown any signs of knowing each other. Victor came to us, I met him, and we immediately got to the topic. He confirmed what Chris had said: "We were at Penguin's, and then, at his suggestion, we went to the lighthouse with the idea of welcoming the Sun there. There were about 15 of us, but about half were not from Varna. The next year, we became 20-25 people and again almost half were from other cities. I, for example, am from Ruse. At that time, we were a big company from different cities in Bulgaria and we traveled a lot and visited each other to have parties. Of course, every year we gathered in Varna to celebrate July. Year after year, The number of attendees increased. For the first 4-5 years, we met Julaya at the lighthouse, and then on the beach. But I don't remember why we moved either..."

from left to right-The Seagull-Zhoro Edrev-Churchila

Here, Tona also intervened in the conversation: "My first July was in 1988. We went with my friend Denitsa Mihova. We were younger, but we already knew each other and gathered with the gang, which included a large part of the founders. Then Julaya was also at the lighthouse. Denitsa's mother - Stefania (b.a. - Stefka Simeonova, who at that time was an actress in the Varna Drama Theater) also came with us." And later he added: "I remember that then one of those present - Kaludi Kalbov somehow managed to extract electricity from the lighthouse's electrical panel and on a cassette player we played music - Keeper of the Seven Keys (1987) by Helloween, an album that was very relevant at the time... At least 2 more times after that we welcomed July to the lighthouse. After the changes in 1989, many people from different parts of the country started coming. First, they gathered in large groups on the meadow in front of the Observatory in the Sea Garden and then they went down to the South Beach and there they welcomed the first July morning. In my opinion, because of this, we gradually stopped going to the lighthouse... But, to find out more about the beginning, you should definitely talk to Crazy Vanche - she was also one of the first. I will introduce you to her too."...

The Seagull and the Ladybug

Thus, I had the idea to meet with other founders and find out as many facts and details as possible about the beginning of this tradition, and to write the true story of the July Morning holiday.

In August of the following year, 2016, again on the Rolbata on the South Beach in Varna, again in the presence of Tona, I continued my conversation with Chris. Then he made important clarifications: “To avoid any misunderstanding, I must tell you that the idea to welcome the sunrise on July 1st was not Vili – Penguin (Violin Stanković), his little finger, but the Big Penguin – Stefan. We were at their place on his birthday, next to the current “Mladost” Home – that’s where he lived then. Yes, Vili – Penguin was there too. There were also Stoyan – Tyanata, Saigona, Viktor, Ivan Terziev, the others I don’t remember exactly, about 15 people in total… And then we went to the lighthouse… Well, I don’t remember who stayed until sunrise and who left earlier… In the next few years, we gathered more – 25-30 people, again at the lighthouse. Back then, there was nothing festive. We brought brandy, beer. We just drank and talked about music, sometimes there was a guitar – we played… We were fans of the old rock and hard rock bands – Sweet, Slade, Status Quo, Suzi Quatro, The Who, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC. Well, of course, Uriah Heep… We were also supporters of the idea of the hippie movement – “Make love, not war”… Now I think about why we might have stopped meeting Julija on the breakwater. It is connected with an unfortunate incident. Two sisters had come and entered the sea and one of the girls drowned. After that, the police did not allow groups of people to gather there… When was the first of July? It is difficult for me to remember for sure. And to be honest, for me it is not that important… In September 1984 I entered the barracks. The same year, before that, we certainly welcomed the sunrise on July 1, but was it the first time then or the year before?… I don't remember anymore…”

The Seagull and the Lidka now

Soon after, Tona, who also expressed her willingness to help write the story of Julaya, told me: "I spoke with Tyana (Stoyan Georgiev). He said that you are not the first one who wants to put together the puzzle for the beginning of Julaya. There have been other attempts at this. There was even an idea to shoot a movie. He confirmed what Chris said, only that according to him, they had previously celebrated Saigon's birthday, not Penguin's..."

At the end of the summer of 2016, Crazy Vanche (Ivanka Dimitrova, 1965th batch), who has been living and working abroad for years, came to visit Tona's house. I was specially invited so that I could talk to her about Julaya. "Yes, we did it for the first time!" she began. Then I told her everything I had learned on the subject so far, and Vancheto continued: "What Chris told you is true, except that this is not the first of July. The first time was before that. There were 7-8 of us on the breakwater: Chris, Joro Edrev, Bacho Tanas, the others - I don't remember, even the two Penguins (Stefan and Vili) were probably not there the first time. I'm not sure if it was Chris's sister - Natalia, who was little at the time... I don't remember who suggested we meet the first of July morning then... This was in 1983... or maybe even earlier - in 1982? I don't remember exactly... Back then we were hippies and listened to hard rock: Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Rainbow... Later, a lot of people would gather, we started going to South Beach... It was so long ago..."

Miro – The Punk and Joro – The Maiden

On the day that Tona was leaving abroad – in January 2017, I met another one of the founders of Julaya – Chaikata (Yuliyan Angelov, 1966th draft), who is a sailor by profession, but in recent years has been a taxi driver. The topic of July Morning immediately warmed the atmosphere in his taxi, on a frosty winter day. “Yes, we did Julaya for the first time! It was in 1983!” – Chaikata began convincingly. “Wait, wait. – I interrupt him – I want to talk about this in more detail, at a more convenient moment, and I want your wife Lidka to be present so that she can tell what she remembers.” Perhaps I don’t need to mention that I heard about Lidka (Lida Angelova, 1965th draft) again from Tona.

Nearly a month later, we meet at the Erato snack bar, a place with hard music and hard drinks. But that's not why we gathered there."

Ivan Purple

Maybe it's good to start with a little background - Chaikata took up the topic - At that time, there were 2 large companies. The one I was with was from the area around the Sports Hall. We were united only by the music that we really liked – hard rock: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Nazareth…” “At one time, we also listened to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest a lot,” Lidka added, after which Chaikata continued again: “We wore jeans, leather jackets, with badges and stripes of different bands, bracelets with spikes. We listened, recorded and exchanged records and cassettes. I had a very nice music system – a combine harvester. Back then, these things were hard to find and expensive, but my father traveled by ship and brought them to me from abroad. I made lists for him in advance of what to bring. That way I supplied many people with music… Because of our appearance, we made an impression on everyone, but the police considered us outsiders. It happened that they would tear off our stripes and bracelets, break our records, even though we had done nothing wrong. We just listened to music and drank, but always within the limits "It was like that," Lidka adds excitedly. "Once the police caught us with his records - the first 3 Iron Maiden albums, officially packaged in a very beautiful luxury box, and they crushed them in front of us. We even cried then..."

Klimo Stoev

“Not everyone could join our company,” Chaikata continued. Anyone who wanted to join us first had to take a kind of exam. We had a “committee” that asked a lot of questions about the different rock bands, their albums, and the musicians, and we only accepted those who passed the “exam.” The “committee” was headed by three people: Tyana (Stoyan Georgiev), Churchill (Tsenko Konov), and me. At that time, we used to get together on July 1st and connect it with the song July Morning by Uriah Heep, but this was mostly at the houses of someone in the company and it was not organized in advance. We also used to welcome the sunrise, but not on July 1st, but on other days. Simply because of the cult of the Sun… And at that time, we got in touch with the other big company, which also included my wife, or rather – my future wife.”

"Our company gathered around Meto (Metodi Karavasilev), who was older than us. Later he died because of drugs. We tried very hard to help him get rid of them, but we didn't succeed. We also gathered because of hard rock music. We did jumbie. We often went to "Malinata" (b.a. - a famous diner at the time, located on the then Lenin Blvd., which also sold beer), to the Sea Garden - next to the Pantheon, to the garden with the Goat (b.a. - a very nice sculpture, in real size, next to Radio Varna), to the Planetarium, to the Summer Theater... You could say that the two companies merged quite naturally, by themselves, because of the music that we all liked. We gathered to meet them and they gathered and came to us. That's how we became friends. "With him (pointing to Chaikata) we first courted, then we became boyfriends, and then we got married. This happened when he was in the barracks – in December 1984, so he could go on leave."

Meto Karavasilev

"After the two companies merged, we became a lot of people – over 50 people," Chaikata continues. When we walked through the center, we looked impressive, like a rally. We made a big impression on everyone – because of our appearance and clothing. But as I said, the police didn't like that. Then the cops chased us and tried to disperse us. When we decided to do Julaya for the first time, that's probably why we chose to go to the lighthouse – to be quiet. Apart from being convenient there, it's also a bit remote, and if we were on the beach, we would immediately stand out."

“I don’t know for sure who gave the idea to welcome the sunrise on July 1, it might have been Meto (Metodi Karavasilev),” Lidka continued. It happened spontaneously, but I remember that we decided on it in advance. First, we went to Meto’s house, who lived next to the Zelenchukova Borsa, to prepare. We collected money and bought food and drinks, we even took blankets. Bacho Tanas (who later also passed away), Krisa, Dido from Dalgopol, Zhoro Edrev and his brother Zhivko – Dzhigita, Ludoto Vanche, Yanko Dimov – he played the guitar well came there. Krisa even brought her little sister Natalia with her, who was very small at the time (b.a. – later became known in these circles as Gospozhata, 1972nd batch). Meto took his cassette player – a small mono cassette player and most importantly – a cassette by Uriah Heep, with the song July Morning. On the way we bought batteries for the cassette player and headed to the breakwater. There we had a meeting with the other company.

Chaikata continues: "From our company, although we had been a common company for a long time, on the first of July there were: Zhoro - Maiden (Georgi Angelov) and his sister Angela, Churchill (Tsenko Konov), Miro - Punkara, Ivan Terziev, Ivan - Gafa (Ivan Todorov), Klimo Stoev, Tyanata (Stoyan Georgiev), Ivan - Purple (who is now a musician in the Prague Philharmonic), Todor Rachev, Svetlyo - Commissioner, Sasho - Moroccan (Alexander Evtimov, who after the changes became a famous businessman), Bilyana Dyulgerova - Chizhika and brother and Veso Dyulgerov - Vampire. I hope we haven't missed anyone, but I think these are the people who attended the first of July. It was in 1983. The following year, 1984, before I entered the barracks, more people gathered. In the next few years, more people came regularly to July: Vili – Penguin (Violin Stankovich), Dimo Zitarov – Zhizhi, Svetlyo – The Plague (they also called him Gorilla), Ivan – Saigona, Harry (who recently passed away), Antoni Kostov – Tony the Curly, Stefan – Keko from Ruse, Stoyan Zhelezov – Sacho, Zhoro – Cowherd from General Toshevo, Diyan Dragnev, Little Lidka, Julien, Elena (who married Klimo Stoev), Zhivko – Dzhigita, Detelina, Kremena, Vanko and Dancheto – they also got married, Plamen – Schultza, Milen – Muchito, Dimitar – Pukito and others.”

I asked both of them what they thought about what Chris and Crazy Vanche had said. "What Chris said is true. I've heard something similar too," Lidka replied. But it happened after that, most likely in 1984 or later, because the first of July was in 1983. Yes, Crazy Vanche was with us then, but it's normal not to remember everything - we were drunk after all, and it was almost 35 years ago. What Chris said very categorically, that the idea for July was Penguin's, confuses me a little. But most likely he doesn't remember exactly either... The story of Victor and Chris, when they say that there were people from other cities, refers to later years - in 1983-84-85 we were certainly all people from Varna.

In the following years, after many people started coming from other cities, the appearance of Julaya changed a lot - continued Lidka. People came who didn't even like our music, who weren't even interested in Julaya's idea. They just came to party and get drunk. They even asked me absurd questions, like: "Why are you here?!? What do you have to do with Julaya?!?" The people in our company didn't like this attitude and we little by little started to distance ourselves."

"That's how it was!" - confirmed Chaikata - After Julaya moved to South Beach, all sorts of guys came from everywhere. They got drunk, had drunken brawls, teased our girls. There were fights. In general - unpleasant business. That's why we gradually withdrew. And this is probably one of the reasons why the real story of Julaya's beginning is not known now - there was no one to tell it. That's why it's very good that you decided to write the story" - concluded Chaikata.

This is the place to add my memories. They are from after 1992, when Julaya was already being celebrated on the Fisherman's Beach in Varna (which no longer exists because it has been built up). Then there was Koko's (Konstantin Petrov) establishment there, from 1991 to 2000. At that time, it was the only place on the seaside promenade where decent music suitable for Julaya was played, unlike all the others, which drowned out the annoying chalga, characteristic of the early transition. Julaya, as an event, was already popular and the beach was usually crowded. People gathered there in separate groups. Against the background of rock music from the establishment, there was drinking, night swimming in the sea and more drinking, saturated with good mood and many positive emotions, until the long-awaited sunrise...

The rest of the story is already known – Julaya began to be celebrated in other places outside Varna, mainly along the Black Sea coast, and in the new century it was organized on Kamen Bryag, thanks to the former mayor of Kavarna – Tsonko Tsonev, where it is regularly celebrated with the participation of the ex-vocalist of Uriah Heep – John Lawton, together with Bulgarian groups. Ken Hensley and Paul Newton, who are among the members of the group that recorded the song July Morning, which has become the anthem of the holiday, also made guest appearances. This gives it a festive atmosphere. The event is now regularly covered by the national media…

So, in summary it can be summarized:

The welcoming of Julaya first occurred in Varna in 1983. Then the first July morning was welcomed at the lighthouse on the breakwater by a company of over 20 young boys and girls, inspired by the song July Morning by the British hard rock band Uriah Heep, including Metodi Karavasilev, Kristiyan Hristov – Krisa and his sister Natalia, Yulian Angelov – Chaikata and his wife Lida Angelova – Lidka, Yanko Dimov, Georgi Edrev and his brother Zhivko – Dzhigita, Ivanka Dimitrova – Ludoto Vanche, Stoyan Georgiev – Tyanata, Georgi Angelov – Zhoro Maidana and his sister Angela, Bacho Tanas, Tsenko Konov – Churchilla, Ivan Terziev, Ivan Todorov – Gafa, Kliment Stoev, Todor Rachev, Alexander Evtimov – Sasho Marokanetsa, Bilyana Dyulgerova – Chizhika and brother and Vesislav Dyulgerov – Vampira, Dido from Dalgopol, Miro – Punkara, Ivan – Purple, Svetlyo – Commissioner… In the following Over the years, the number of attendees has been steadily increasing, with people from other cities joining in. In the first few years, Julaya was held on the breakwater, then on the South Beach, and after 1992 on the Fisherman's Beach. It gradually spread outside Varna, mainly along the Black Sea coast...

What does Julaya symbolize? It is difficult to say unequivocally and categorically. As can be understood from the stories of some of the founders, the holiday arose spontaneously and without an initial plan. The first time the idea was simply to welcome the first July sun to the sounds of the legendary Uriah Heep song – July Morning. In general, this is a holiday for fans of rock and hard rock, for supporters of the hippie movement. So were its founders. And today, some continue to put into it the meaning of the freedom of spirit from the hippie movement, others perceive it as a rock holiday, and some – simply as welcoming the first July sun, which symbolizes the actual onset of the long-awaited summer season. For middle-aged people – perhaps there are sentimental memories, and for younger people – who knows?… But this, it seems, is not the most important thing. More importantly, for over 3 decades, in different places, every year, Julaya has been creating many positive emotions and experiences for thousands of people, now from different generations! May it always be so!…

But I, as a Varna resident, am interested in another question. Will someone ever organize Julaya where it originated – at the lighthouse on the Varna breakwater? Or at least close to it?… Will someone remember to invite and gather the founders of the holiday again? Most of them are still residents of our city. Some live outside Varna, others abroad, and some have already left this world. They all deserve the necessary recognition and respect! Because of the tradition they created, because of their thousands of followers over the years, because of the idea!… I hope this will happen someday. Someday, on June 30th versus July 1st. On Julaya!…

P.P.  This article does not claim to be exhaustive. The goal was to establish once and for all who the people are, when and how they started this beautiful tradition. Any other opinions from the other founders will illuminate and enrich the story of Julaya even more.

Thanks to everyone who helped write this article!

Special thanks to Antonia Pasheva – Tona! Without her, I wouldn't have known any of the founders of Julaya.

Additional thanks to Lida Angelova – Lidka! When I wrote this article, she, after conversations with Zhoro Edrev, helped me a lot with important and detailed clarifications. Lidka also provided the photos, which are an integral part of Julaya's story!

May 2017, Chavdar Dimov