Bulgaria Events and Festivals

1/27/2010 - 1/29/2010International Festival of Masquerade Games

This deeply folkloric festival highlights a still-surviving bachelor tradition which goes back centuries to its earliest origins in pagan times. The Thracians held ritual games featuring 'Kukeri' (masked men) to honour the god Dionysus. Among the 'Kukeri' dancers are folkloric figures with names like Tsar, Harachari, Plyuvkachi, and Startzi, as well as Dionysus himself. The festival is both a competition of costume and dance and a popular carnival. About 5,000 participants from up to 90 folklore groups take part, from the regions of Bulgaria and around the world. They dress in hides or in traditional rural costumes and dance in competitions to the delight of the amassed crowds. During the festival, the Kukeri form processions through the town wearing their fantastic masks whilst kicking up a terrific din of shouting, bells and rattles. They are re-enacting an ancient rite, chasing away evil and celebrating new life with the ending of winter and the hopes for a successful harvest in the coming year.