Pernik Festival History

More than 6 000 participants "occupied" the European carnival capital Pernik during the masquerade festival "Surva" that took place from Feb. 1 to Feb. 3 . For three days the people forgot about their everyday lives and became a part of a centuries old tradition . The celebrations in Pernik, whose purpose is to keep alive a long-lasting cultural heritage, occurred in 1966. Although the tradition of kukekrstvo comes from the long gone pagan times, this tradition is inseparable part of the Bulgarian cultural history. The first edition of "Surva" had rules that limited the number of participants. Initially, only local, single men could participate dressed as kukeri. This rules, that are now abandoned, attracted around 800 people in the first

More than 6000 people, including participants from places as far as Indonesia, Aruba and Jordan, came to pay their respect to the cultural feast and present a part of their culture. The Bulgarians who were the most numerous group presented various national costumes and kuker costumes and masks. The costumes are made from animal fur (usually male goat), while the masks are either made from animal heads or feathers of different color that glued on a wooden construction in a pattern that represents an image. And if the costumes and scary masks are not enough to chase away the bad spirits, the kukeri also put giant bells on their waist. Such costume weighs about 50 kilos. The kuker outfits take lots of preparation and money and so the participants assemble them throughout the whole year. Each kuker spends great amount of time looking around for bells, good fur, horns and all attributes that, once put together, make the costume complete. Borislav Tzonev from the group of Simitli says that one bell can cost as much as 200 leva. Altogether a costume may cost several thousand leva, says Tzonev. Everything is handmade and stored carefully for the next