The tradition of meeting the sunrise on the first of July on the seashore appeared in Bulgaria relatively recently, in the late seventies - early eighties of the XX century. This holiday owes its name to the song of the English band Uriah Heep "July Morning".
The celebration of Dzhulai is a relatively recent tradition in Bulgaria. It all started with the fact that several young people, inspired by the song July Morning from the album of the British band Uriah Heep, released in 1971, decided to meet the first July dawn on the seashore. In the second half of the eighties, the idea began to gain popularity. The participants in the action, who had previously gathered at the first berth of the port "Varna-Vostok", decided that the rest of the Black Sea coast was no worse. It is known that in 1986 the celebration of Dzhulai in the village of Kamen Bryag, which later became one of the most popular meeting places for the July dawn, was already quite crowded. Another cult place for celebrating Dzhulai is the village of Varvara, where the "Iron Tree" is located, left over from the filming of the film "Big Night Bathing" by the Bulgarian director Binka Zhelyazkova.
Over time, Julai, which was originally a hippie tradition, turned into a youth summer holiday, not tied to a specific subculture. As part of this event, concerts of Bulgarian and foreign musical groups are held. A frequent guest of the holiday was and remains John Lawton, the former vocalist of Uriah Heep, who has been filming since 2008 a series of documentaries dedicated to the historical places and traditions of Bulgaria, under the general title "John Lawton Presents".
The participants of the holiday gather on the beaches of the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria on June 30 to meet not only the morning, but also the evening preceding it. Despite the fact that there are a number of popular places such as Varna, Burgas, Kamen Bryag, Sozopol, Chernomorets and Varvara, Dzhulai is celebrated anywhere on the seashore. Throughout the short summer night, the music of professional and amateur bands sounds among tents and bonfires, and July Morning is heard at dawn. Near Kamen Bryag, the Kavarna City Hall organizes a music festival that lasts until eight o'clock on the first morning of July.
