Excellent video! 😍 I don't know if you noticed but many of the kukeri from some of the regions are dressed in female clothes and the reoccurring characters are of authority figures, which are thoroughly made fun of - the priest, the politician.. Everything is permitted at those days, if it's to have fun 😉. Back in the days, being part of the kukeri tradition was a right of passage for young men. They couldn't marry if they hadn't been kukeri at least once. The only thing that saddens me a little bit is that the female rights of passage are almost completely lost. There are still some places that keep the tradition of lazaruvane, Enyov day and and so on but it's nothing like the kukeri. Anyway, I hope you had fun 😉
I have wanted to see the Kukeri for years, so it was amazing to finally get the chance! I will have to research Lazaruvane and learn about it, maybe another video topic?
@@RobertWGower I can imagine how it feels once on site. I have only seen the kukeri from my region and the refugees from Thrace and Macedonia in my city doing theirs as well, seeing all those different costumes must have been amazing. And yes, I think lazaruvane is a worthy topic. There is a village/small town very famous for its special lazarki (this is how young women/girls are called) ritual - Kozichino (old name Erkech). They are from the Vayak ethnographic grop, close to the Black sea. There are quite a few videos online from all Bulgarian regions and ethnographic areas. Lazarki perform rituals for luck, fertility and also to try to guess the identify of their future husbands 😉. It is believed it's the inheritance of old cults to flower goddesses. There are quite a lot of pagan rituals still performed here and there in Bulgaria, some I find fascinating are: - Enyovden - the longest day of the year where magic rituals are performed again for good luck, for health with big wreaths of medicinals herbs, the water touched by the first rays of the summer sun was believed to be magical and people washed themselves in it. In some areas people dress a small girl as if she's a bride and she is carried around again for luck and fertility, and for some love. - Guerman (Герман) and Peperuda (which means butterfly) - both parts of the same prayers/rituals for rain. Guerman is an absolutely incredible ritual with clay male figurine called Guerman being "sacrificed" and buried for rain. Peperuda is the rest of the rain ritual. This is becoming too long, I am sorry, but I find these rituals so fascinating, together with the magic in hair, the magic of the embroidery symbols are something people trully believed until very recently (and some still quite do 😉). And these all are for women. That's why I find it a bit sad that women forget them.
I need to see these for myself, thanks for all the info! I have decided to leave making a few more videos for Bulgaria until March/April once the weather begins to warm up. So the channel could be quiet for a few weeks, but subscribe and ill do my best to keep sharing your beautiful country.
Excellent video! 😍 I don't know if you noticed but many of the kukeri from some of the regions are dressed in female clothes and the reoccurring characters are of authority figures, which are thoroughly made fun of - the priest, the politician.. Everything is permitted at those days, if it's to have fun 😉.
Back in the days, being part of the kukeri tradition was a right of passage for young men. They couldn't marry if they hadn't been kukeri at least once.
The only thing that saddens me a little bit is that the female rights of passage are almost completely lost. There are still some places that keep the tradition of lazaruvane, Enyov day and and so on but it's nothing like the kukeri.
Anyway, I hope you had fun 😉
I have wanted to see the Kukeri for years, so it was amazing to finally get the chance! I will have to research Lazaruvane and learn about it, maybe another video topic?
@@RobertWGower I can imagine how it feels once on site. I have only seen the kukeri from my region and the refugees from Thrace and Macedonia in my city doing theirs as well, seeing all those different costumes must have been amazing.
And yes, I think lazaruvane is a worthy topic. There is a village/small town very famous for its special lazarki (this is how young women/girls are called) ritual - Kozichino (old name Erkech). They are from the Vayak ethnographic grop, close to the Black sea. There are quite a few videos online from all Bulgarian regions and ethnographic areas.
Lazarki perform rituals for luck, fertility and also to try to guess the identify of their future husbands 😉. It is believed it's the inheritance of old cults to flower goddesses.
There are quite a lot of pagan rituals still performed here and there in Bulgaria, some I find fascinating are:
- Enyovden - the longest day of the year where magic rituals are performed again for good luck, for health with big wreaths of medicinals herbs, the water touched by the first rays of the summer sun was believed to be magical and people washed themselves in it. In some areas people dress a small girl as if she's a bride and she is carried around again for luck and fertility, and for some love.
- Guerman (Герман) and Peperuda (which means butterfly) - both parts of the same prayers/rituals for rain. Guerman is an absolutely incredible ritual with clay male figurine called Guerman being "sacrificed" and buried for rain. Peperuda is the rest of the rain ritual.
This is becoming too long, I am sorry, but I find these rituals so fascinating, together with the magic in hair, the magic of the embroidery symbols are something people trully believed until very recently (and some still quite do 😉). And these all are for women. That's why I find it a bit sad that women forget them.
I need to see these for myself, thanks for all the info! I have decided to leave making a few more videos for Bulgaria until March/April once the weather begins to warm up. So the channel could be quiet for a few weeks, but subscribe and ill do my best to keep sharing your beautiful country.