International Mummers Festival “Surva” in Pernik starts today

The International Festival of the Masquerade Games “Surva” starts in Bulgaria’s town of Pernik today, January 27.

After a three-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic and 2020 water crisis in the area, the long-awaited festival of masquerade games will be held for 3 days instead of the usual two, until January 29.

Almost 10,000 participants are expected to take part in this year’s edition of the festival. They will demonstrate old Bulgarian customs. Masquerade groups from Greece, Romania, Serbia, Italy, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Croatia will also perform.

In 2015, “Surva” was listed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

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The festival held in Pernik is the oldest festival of the masquerade games in Bulgaria. The first edition was opened on January 16, 1966.

Mummers (Kukeri in Bulgarian) is a Bulgarian tradition of Thracian origins. In ancient times the old Thracians held the Mummers Play in honour of god Dionysus.

The Mummers plays are performed by men, dressed in colourful hand-made costumes and wearing scary masks. Each wears a leather belt around the waist with huge copper bells (chanove) attached to it.

The ‘Mummers’ masks are decorated with threads, ribbons, laces and usually represent animals like goats, bulls, rams, or even chicken. Some of the masks are double-faced. On one of the sides, the nose is snubbed and the face is good-humored, on the other side, the nose is hooked and the face is ominous. Those masks symbolize the good and the bad which co-exist in the world.

In different ethnographic regions of Bulgaria men put on masks around New Year, during the twelve days of Christmas (Christmas till Epiphany), on Sirni Zagovezni (Forgiveness Day), and on Todorova Nedelia (the Sunday before the start of the Easter Fast).

The symbolic meaning of the winter and pre-spring rituals is related to the end of the old year, the beginning of the new and to the awakening of nature for new life. These rituals represent the wish for a rich harvest, good health and fertility for humans and farm animals.

The dance of the masked men is a mystic unity of rhythm, sound, and colour. Moving in a special step, mummers walk around, jump and dance special magic dances to scare away the evil spirits, to celebrate the beginning of spring and hopes for a good harvest, health, land fertility, and happiness.

The sounds of the bells hanging from the belts of the dancers are believed to strengthen the protective properties of the masks.

In the different parts of Bulgaria mummers are called Kukeri, Survakari, Babugeri and Dzhamilari. This ancient custom became even more popular after 1985, when the festival gained international-event status.