I went to Pernik with my friend A. for the first time this weekend. This is probably something I should be embarrassed by given how close the city is to Sofia I don't have time for that. What I really want to talk about is the <a href="http://www.surva.org/TheFestival_Eng.html" target="_blank">Surva Festival</a> that was held there this weekend.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="576" caption="Me and a Kukeri"]<a title="Me and a Kukeri by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783197969/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6783197969_abdfc98296_z.jpg" alt="Me and a Kukeri" width="576" height="384" /></a>[/caption]

<em>Amazing</em>.

And kind of difficult to put into worlds.

These men are serious about their costumes. They are serious about the size of their bells. They are serious about their jumping and dancing. I guess you've got to be serious about these things if it's your job to chase evil spirits out of town. Pernik is clearly evil-spirit-free after this weekend. Or at least they should be.
<a title="Bulgarian man  by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783037639/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6783037639_2ea8fcb4f0_z.jpg" alt="Bulgarian man " width="576" height="384" /></a>

The festival grows out of a tradition in Bulgaria where men dress up in elaborate costumes to celebrate the arrival of the new year and in the process scare away evil spirits lurking in the village in order to promote health, wealth and happiness. The men who dress up in costume are called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukeri" target="_blank">kukeri</a>.<!--more-->
<a title="Mask and bells  by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783029113/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6783029113_3912f26a05_z.jpg" alt="Mask and bells " width="576" height="384" /></a>

<a title="A man wearing huge bells  by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783093879/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7017/6783093879_cb490d402d_z.jpg" alt="A man wearing huge bells " width="576" height="384" /></a>
Today the festival is held at the end of January in Pernik and villages from all over Bulgaria participate as well as groups from Serbia, Macedonia and even Albania come to participate. I guess the best way to describe this event is this way: it is part parade, part festival and part party.

<a title="Drinking to keep warm by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783053859/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6783053859_27bfa9df51_z.jpg" alt="Drinking to keep warm" width="576" height="384" /></a>

Groups wait in line for their turn to preform in front of judges. People take pictures of and with these men. Everyone seems to be drinking to stave off the cold. When the previous two things aren't happening the men are busy showing off by jumping up and down to ring the bells attached to them or playing drums to dance to. It's a wonderful cacophony of ringing bells, shouting and drumming.
<a title="Mask on the ground by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783025225/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6783025225_504401b120_z.jpg" alt="Mask on the ground" width="576" height="384" /></a>

I've never seen anything like it.

These men are wearing huge bell. The tone is really deep. The masks make the men giant and I've got no idea how they can dance while wearing these costumes. Even though it was cold out, these men had a lot of bulky, heavy clothing on as a part of their costumes. I would guess that they were actually hot in the costumes.
<a title="Kukeri and Pernik by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783012655/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6783012655_09e798cf29_z.jpg" alt="Kukeri and Pernik" width="576" height="384" /></a>

I have to say when it came to this event my imagination <em>sucked</em> (and that's a word I never use on this blog). I'd seen some pictures and heard some stories before going. So I figured I basically knew what to expect. As it turns out, none of this prepared for me for this event at all. I didn't come close to imagining the sights or sounds that greeted me in Pernik.

Luckily, I like a good surprise.
<a title="Kukeri in training by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783002821/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6783002821_288532ea92_z.jpg" alt="Kukeri in training" width="576" height="384" /></a>

I was surprised by the range of colors in the costumes, the size and scope of the festival and the participants, the number of attendees and the all around joyous feel of the event. The little kukeri in training with his dad in a big kukeri costume was unbelievably cute--he's wearing bells and everything.

<a title="Bells and a Bulgarian vest by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6782997089/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6782997089_f977ea51e6_z.jpg" alt="Bells and a Bulgarian vest" width="576" height="384" /></a>

It's been at or below freezing in Bulgaria these last few weeks and so I expected to be<em> really</em> cold at this festival. Sure a big cup of hot wine helped but that's false warmth. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was cold. Don't get me wrong. B<strong></strong>ut the excitement in the air made everything a lot more manageable. Oh and my smart-wool socks helped too.

<a title="Me at the Festival  by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6783126817/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7010/6783126817_33473b4971_z.jpg" alt="Me at the Festival " width="576" height="384" /></a>
After a couple of hours, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pljeskavica" target="_blank">pleskavitsa</a> and plenty of photos, I felt like I'd seen what I'd come for and then some. We made our way to a cafe to warm up, have a coffee and watch some football.

What an exceptional festival.

Oh and be sure to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/">check out all of my photos on flickr</a>.