KUKERI
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BULGARIA: On New Year’s Day men cover themselves with goatskins to impersonate the Kukeri, who both embody and chase away evil spirits. In the past they’d brush against women to bestow fertility.
Photograph by Charles Fréger
Source: National Geographic
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Meet the Kukeri. XXll International Festival of the Masquerade Games Сурва 2013, Pernik, Bulgaria.
This is an old Bulgarian tradition, based on a pagan ritual, performed to scare and chase the devils away. That’s why the masks are the main components and usually represent animals like rams, goats or bulls (it probably has something to do with the idea of reincarnation). Everything is replete with symbols: white stands for water and light; red for fire and sun, etc. Also, the creation of one’s costume/mask is as much a part of the ritual as the performance. The masked men don’t speak, but rather walk and dance in a special step. So the impact gets even bigger by the sound of the bronze bells that hang on them. -
Kukeri is a traditional Bulgarian ritual that takes place sometime between the New Year and Lent. Grown men dress up in furry costumes and go dancing around villages, in an attempt to scare away evil spirits and bring good harvest and health to the community for the year.
They do this by imitating various physiological acts—like sex and giving birth—and by wearing massive wooden dicks around their waists.
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Сурва Полена 2013, част 12 (by Антон Коцев)
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