28 January 2008 | Pernik, a town in western Bulgaria, and Agnita, in the Transylvania region of Romania, festively echoed with traditional winter masquerades during the past weekend. Through the two festivals are said to stem from different traditions – the Thracian and the Saxon, they share a number of similarities.

The former industrial and mining town of Pernik, near the capital Sofia, is usually not known for being cheery. However, the Surva international festival of masquerade games that takes place there every other year, made it just so. The town’s streets echoed with the sound of bells, while thousands of people roamed around– brightly dressed participants and curious onlookers from throughout the country, Europe and even Africa and Asia.

Though there were all kinds of costumes to be seen, the stars of the festival were the Bulgarian kukeri. Those are personages – usually wearing two-faced masks (with a friendly and evil side), adorned with brightly-coloured clothing, hanging furs and bells.

Their traditional ritual, said to have Thracian origins, includes dancing around Bulgarian village and town streets in groups during the winter months – thus chasing away evil spirits and ensuring an abundant and fertile year. They also go around all the households in the village, wishing them health and prosperity and get snacks in return.

Though with different origins, the Lole Carnival – which took place on Sunday in Agnita, a town in Transylvania located around 300 kilometres from the Romanian capital Bucharest, has a similar purpose. Dating from the seventeenth century, when it was practiced by the ethnic Saxons who inhabited the area, the tradition largely died down with their massive emigration from Transylvania after the fall of communism.

The Lole, or Urzelnlaufen as they are known in the Saxon dialect, are said to represent various guilds. Dressed in traditional costumes, consisting of masks and furs, they run around the town, shaking the bells and cracking the whips they carry, stopping off in houses for some food and drink. Other participants in the festivities were disguised in full, and quite realistic-looking, bear costumes. This ritual was intended to mark the turn of the year and to chase off the winter.

The Sibiu municipality and various NGOs have worked together in the past couple of years to revive the carnival, as a way to remember the centuries-old tradition but also to bring together the ethnic groups inhabiting the area, where a few Saxons remain.