When talking about carnivals in Europe, everyone comes to mind The well -known Venice Carnival or those that occur in Spain of Cádiz or the Canary Islands, but there is a long tradition that dates back to different places, and one of the oldest is not that of the city in northern Italy, but would be found in the Balkans.
It is considered that the oldest carnival in Europe, or could even be from the world, would be in Bulgaria, specifically in Pernik, 20 kilometers from the capital, Sofia, just as it has replicas in different locations in this country of the east of the east of the old continent.
The origin of the Kukeri Carnival in Bulgaria
Kukeri’s carnival, which is what this celebration is called, takes place Between New and Lent Yearbeing its big day not in the usual time of Carnival, but on January 13, the days of San Basilio, and when traditions that are assimilated to the rest are given.
The origin of this celebration I would go back to the tracious tribesand whose traditions could be up to 6,000 years, and that they already used to disguise themselves, as well as other pagan parties prior to Christianity in which goodbye to winter was said to winter and the “bad energies.”
In this Carnival of Pernik, each participant elaborates their own mask that is usually covered with horns, ribbons and wool, which gives a multicolored touch, and that is accompanied by strong sound that generates the balancing of cowbells at the waist of the participants to scare away evil spirits and diseases, as well as load wheat to call the good harvest.
The Kukeri, young single and protagonists of the Carnival
Kukeri’s name refers to single or newlywed young people, who are the main protagonists of the celebrations of this carnivals, which formerly carried costumes with natural skins, a custom that has been changed to make other more artificial materials.
The masks and horns that carry in their costumes the Kukerisome wood, also have jaws that open and close, and that represent life and death, good and evil, as well as the different forces of nature, since these practice rituals that call the health, fertility and luck of peoples. These visit different houses in which bread and came as a sign of prosperity.
His long tradition that dates back to the Thracian people, as well as having maintained much of the symbology and customs, has made UNESCO recognized this Kukeri carnival as an oral and immaterial heritage of humanity.
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