Mummers festival Surva 2020 cancelled due to the water crisis in Pernik

Surva, the International Festival of the Masquerade Games, traditionally held in Bulgaria’s town of Pernik, will not take place this year. The reason is the water crisis in the municipality and the introduced water restrictions. This was confirmed by the mayor of Pernik, Stanislav Vladimirov, for BNT on January 7.

The firm opinion of the health ministry is that because of the risk of contagions, it is better to cancel the festival. The District Health Inspectorate is also extremely opposed to conducting Surva 2020.

The mummers’ festival was scheduled for January 24-26.

Only in the villages around Pernik, the traditional rituals accompanying "Surva" will take palce.

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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 16th of January, 1966.

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.

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.

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).