THE TRADITIONAL HOLIDAY OF MUMMERS AND MASKS

In the different regions of Bulgaria, the names of this holiday differ. Mostly bachelors and young married men take part. Men with more delicate faces and smoother skins dress like “brides”, while the others dress like grandmothers, grandfathers and, sons-in-law. The ritual represents the protection of brides from advances by observers.

Besides these dressed-up men, there is a group of mummers dressed in furs, to which bells are attached. The faces are smeared with coal ashes or hidden under scary masks personifying strange and fantastic animals and birds, which cause terror.

The mummers go around the village and on their way hit women as a symbol of their desire for them to get pregnant and give birth. Their tour ends in the center of the village, where they symbolically plow the soil and plant seeds, which must germinate and give a good harvest.

This holiday is celebrated in:

The village of Aydemir, near Silistra

The town of Lukovit near Lovech

The municipality of Sliven

The National festival of masquerade games called “Guests in Shopsko” in the town of Elin Pelin,

The villages in Strandzha mountain

The International festival of mummers called “Kukove-Rakovski”

The village of Kosti in the municipality of Tsarevo

The International masquerade festival called “Kukerlandia” in Yambol

The town of Karlovo

The village of Shiroka Luka near Smolyan