Avoidance techniques do not work when the koukeri are in town. For the residents of Pernik, to escape the festive chaos that the weekend of January 25 to 27 presented, they would have had to hit the road. But why would they want to? The Surva International Festival of Masquerade Games happens only once every second January, and is the largest such event on the Balkan Peninsula.

This year, the 17th time that the games have been held, 98 groups comprising more than 5400 people from 13 countries participated. The scholarly conference Masquerade - Cultural Heritage and Social Practices on January 25 addressed topics like Horse Burial Masks in Eurasia, The Mask in Avant-Garde, The Contemporary Carnival and Signs of Charity and Musicians in Festivals' Masked Games.

Who is that masked man?
And masked games would be the most apt description of the practices. Elsewhere described as theatrical folk drama, the most recognisable label for such traditions would be "mummers", though they are also called names like guisers (British Isles), wrenboys (Ireland), janneys (Newfoundland, Canada), koukeri (Bulgaria), vasilichari, barbari, rusali or djamaldjii (Macedonia), mamutones (Sardinia, Italy) or zarramacos (Cantabria, Spain). In general, though, the idea is the same: actors (traditionally males) come together and dress themselves up frightful costumes, often massive, and most often masking their true appearance, and then make a lot of noise, so as to either scare off evil spirits, call down blessings for a good harvest/fertile earth, engender fertility in the newly married, mark the midsummers festival for the solstice... In Bulgaria, the rituals are traditionally held around New Year's, during the 12 days of Christmas (Christmas till Epiphany), on Sirni Zagovezni (the Sunday before Lent), and on Todorova Nedelya (the Sunday before the start of the Easter fast).

According to surva.bg, in western Bulgaria, those who perform these rituals around New Year's are known as sourvakari, while the people who participate in the pre-spring masquerade games are referred to as koukeri.

From all around
This year, groups from Tbilisi, Georgia; Ghaziabad, India; Sardinia, Italy; Begniste, Kavadarci, Prilep and Strumica, Macedonia; Budva and Rozaje, Montenegro; County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland; Lublin, Poland; Elektrostal, Russia; Nis and Leskovac, Serbia; Videm, Slovenia; and Bursa and Yalova, Turkey, participated in the festival. Special guests at the event included Tian Chenpin, minister of labour and social policy of China, and Henry van der Kroon, president of the Foundation of European Carnival Cities, among others, such as local politicians from many of the participating international cities.

Pernik mayor Rossitsa Yanakieva and Minister of Culture Stefan Danailov opened the festival under the motto The Power of Good (Силата на доброто).

On the Bulgarian side, 86 koukeri and sourvakari groups from all around the country presented their talents at the games. The about 5100 participant, along with the foreign guests, drew a crowd of more than 25 000 people a day to Pernik, otherwise a city of about 86 000 known for its former mining industry and actual state of unsophisticatedness.

This all is forgotten for the festival, which was held for the first time on January 16 1966, following an official resolution in 1965. At that time it was called Winter Carnival and saw the presence only of groups from the region of Pernik, for a total of about 800 participants. The next year, 1967, it grew to become the National Festival of the Koukeri and Survakari and the Spring Song and Dance Related to these Ancient Customs - Pernik, with groups from around Bulgaria. This name and theme then continued in 1969, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980 (when the name was changed to National Festival of the Kukeri and Survakari - Pernik), 1985 (the first time foreign groups could participate), 1990 (now called the Festival of the Koukeri and Survakari from Bulgaria and Abroad, with 3100 participants), 1993 (the Tenth Jubilee Edition of the International Folklore Festival of the Masquerade/Surva Winter Games and Koukeri Pre-Spring Games and Customs - Pernik), 1996, 1998 (when it became the International Folklore Festival of the Masquerade Games Pernik), 2000 (again changed, now to its present name of Surva International Festival of the Masquerade Games - Pernik, with more than 3500 participants), 2002, 2004, 2006 and, finally, 2008. In 1995, the International Federation of Carnival Cities accepted Pernik as a full member city of the organisation.

The Irish are coming
Jim Ledwith, international programmes manager with the Irish-based Mummers Foundation, and he who organises the Irish presence, first found out about Bulgaria's kouker tradition when he saw a publicity card while on a skiing holiday in Pamporovo in 2002. Until then, he had thought that Ireland's mumming tradition was unique to the world.

The first Irish delegation came to the Pernik festival in 2004; this year is the third time they have participated.

In 2005, Jim founded the Mummers Foundation, which he describes as "a strategic organisation for koukeri in Ireland to make connections abroad, rather than just at home". With the support of the Irish embassy in Sofia and European Union cultural funds, a group of about 25 mummers and musicians from Northern Ireland's County Fermanagh were able to come to Bulgaria for what Jim calls a "learning experience" in which they explore the similarities among seemingly disparate cultures, make friends and enjoy the beer.

There is another side to this Irish-Bulgarian story: the Bulgarian-Irish Association, founded in 1991 and represented at the embassy the day before the games started by Lili Koutsanova. Koutsanova, originally from the Strandja region of Bulgaria, said that there were curious similarities between the Northern Irish country and her region of origin: both have koukeri/mummers and both have nestenari (on June 3)/fire-walkers (at the midsummers festival); both are border regions with a southern neighbouring country; both base (or have based) their livelihood on agriculture.

Earplugs a must
One can take the train to Pernik; from the station, it's a short walk to the central square. There, it is like walking into another world, or another century, when community gathered and feted and lived.

It is: two full days of clanging bells, exploding cannons, yells, whoops, crooning voices, crooning instruments, wooden clappers, pounding drums, bird feathers, strips of fabric, goat skins, braided grain stalks, disguises, horrendous masks, makeshift grills, kebabche, homemade wine, rakiya in re-used bottles, loaves of white bread, kyufte, grill smoke, balloons, startled children, beer-clutching youths, cheerful pensioners, horo-dancers, cross-dressers, baby koukeri, aged koukeri, melodies of centuries past, Macedonian techno, Irish fiddle, Irish dance, wedding ceremonies, bride-and-groom, stick slapping, souvenir vending, performance judging, art exhibitions, deafening magic.

It is: something that makes me cry.

There is a lot to such traditions that are not easy to understand: the taxidermal rabbits, the Native American-like feather displays, why they paint hearts on their faces, but there is also a lot that is. Cannons are loud and scary; distorted goat heads would frighten anyone; marriage means fertility, which means continuation, which means assurance. And it is beautiful.

Oh, a note for females: the expressed goal of the koukeri is to "eat as many females as possible", so keep your eyes alert.

The Surva International Festival of Masquerade Games happens in January of even-numbered years. For more information, visit [www.surva.bg].

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Examples
of where there are striking similarities in mumming and koukeri and traditions of the main characters involved in the rituals:

Bulgaria

The Priest
The Bear/Camel/Hobby Horse
The Nurse/Doctor  
The Policeman
The Hated Turk
The Devil
Old Woman with Children
The Rooster/Stork
Cross Dressers
Old Woman (man dressed up)

Ireland

Saint Patrick
The White Horse/Hobby Horse
The Doctor
The Captain
Hated Saint George
Little Devil Doubt
Miss Slick Slack
The Wren Bird
Cross Dressers
Old Biddy/Funny Woman

Courtesy Jim Ledwith, Irish Mummers Foundation