Surva Festival in Pernik, Bulgaria was the last weekend in January. It is also called the Kukeri festival. This festival is celebrated in villages all over the south of Bulgaria. This particular festival is said to be the best and it did not disappoint. There was a huge bonfire and firework display for the "opening ceremonies", and all day Saturday is a competition and parade of different Kukeri groups.
Here are some pictures:
Each group competed in the competition by performing a skit, and also by the look of their costumes and how traditional they are.
This is a good picture to display the bells that almost every Kukeri has around their waste. They are very loud, they dance around hitting the bells, slamming things together and banging on drums. The tradition is based off of warding off evil spirits and cleansing for the new year, and of course all the fertility traditions that come along with every pagan holiday.
I was intrigued by the little kids who participated. The Kukeri scared me so I couldn't imagine being this young surrounded by people in these type of costumes.
This was our AMAZING view from the hotel. Elena did awesome making our reservations. We had a great view of everything going on. This was the before picutre
And this is as close as I got to after picture with all the people (we were outside at the festival pretty much all day). There were a lot of people, and it was a lot of fun. If you are thinking of a visit, I would recommend aiming for this festival.
Every group has different costumes, some have huge hats that make them look 8 to 10 feet tall, and some of them just paint their faces. It depends on the group and the traditional outfits that the people in their region or village wore before them. The costumes are very interesting and some are very intricate.
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