Kukeri – ??????, Bulgaria 2009

????????????? ?. ?????? ???? 2009 www.smolyandnes.com Kukeri is a widespread spring pagan festival in Bugaria. The rituals are performed around New Year and before Lent. The Kukeri are men dressed in fearful costumes who chase the evil spirits of the winter away by making noise with large bells. Their indispensable attributes are the loads of bells, animal skin costumes and the red painted wooden phalus, often stylized as a sword. They also perform fertility rituals, associated with ploughing and sowing, symbolizing the marriage between the Goddess Mother Earth and the Sky. That is often represented by a mocking marriage ceremony. The kukeri are also locally known as babugeri, djamali, survakari, chaushi, stanchinari etc.