by R.J. (10th Grade)

Our church (which is Protestant, not Orthodox) is made up mostly of Bulgarians, yet it has a few very American traditions. One of these is their handbell choir, which is one of just two handbell choirs in all of Bulgaria and the only one in Sofia. For the last few years my whole family* has been a part of this choir, which generally has concerts around Christmas and Easter. Because of the language barrier (even though rehearsals are mostly in English for our benefit), the relative youth of the choir, and a discernible lack of communication between the ringers of the high and low bells, prepping for concerts is something of a trial, but the end result is usually worth it. Most recently, we had a concert on Palm Sunday, in which we played such notable Easter pieces as a medley from the 1991 movie Beauty and the Beast and a Thanksgiving medley (I don’t know why, since Bulgarians don’t celebrate Thanksgiving). We also played more traditional tunes like “Be Thou My Vision” and “Crown Him with Many Crowns”. On Easter day, we had another concert, which I was later told moved viewers to tears. Hopefully in a good way.