Christmas and New Year addresses by heads of state around the world are a tradition that has lasted for more than 8 decades. It was started by Britain's King George V in 1932. Queen Elizabeth II made her first Christmas address, broadcast on radio in 1952 and on television in 1957. In Bulgaria, the idea of a New Year's address to the nation dates back to the first Bulgarian monarch after the Liberation (1878), Prince Alexander I Battenberg. He believed that this would give a European twist to the celebration. A princely manifesto was issued for this purpose, read by a herald and later printed on a special poster.

 The longest New Years' address to the Bulgarian nation was given by the communist dictator Todor Zhivkov (1971-1989). While the tone of Zhivkov's words was always positive and even cheerful, the speeches of the country's first democratically elected president, Zhelyu Zhelev, were rather pessimistic and filled with sadness at the too slow transition.

The other four Bulgarian presidents - Petar Stoyanov, Georgi Parvanov, Rosen Plevneliev and Rumen Radev also left their mark. The president's speech always contains wishes to the nation for a better year ahead.

"Heads of state and the people who are responsible for their communication with the citizens have always kept in mind that the words they say on the festive night and the things they have to emphasise need to relate a little to the past but much more to the future, to give hope in times when the world or the political situation in a country is not so stable," protocol expert Maria Kassimova-Moisset told BNR.

Besides being a journalist/writer, Kassimova knows the specifics of state protocol and communicating with people at different levels in society. As someone who also organizes special trainings on the subject, she points out the must-have element at the heart of any speech, whether it is directed at friends, colleagues or serving at the state level:

"Regardless of the nature of the speech, it must be sincere. People are tired of being disappointed and lied to, and everyone's senses are so heightened that even if the speaker hides a small portion of the truth or tries to give it a more palatable flavour, they will sense it," Kassimova explains.– It is good to pepper your speech with examples and situations that people can relate to. Because people want to feel that what they're hearing has been experienced, they want to be able to imagine it."

If it were up to her to compose the Head of State's New Year's address, Maria Kasimova would highlight several points:

"This year, it is impossible not to mention the war in Ukraine, because I think, regrettably, it is the event of this year. There is no way not to mention the division in Bulgarian society, as well as the recovery from the Covid-crisis, the consequences of which we will continue to suffer. As for the future - in a speech of three pages, it should take up most of it. It would be good to start the new year with a sense of optimism and hope that is so lacking in this country and in the world. Lack of hope is perhaps the most powerful weapon that people can and do use against themselves."