A large number of participants, guests and spectators gathered on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the central square in Pernik, Western Bulgaria, during the three-day 30th Surva International Festival of Masquerade Games (IFMG).
The festival started on Friday morning with a children's masquerade procession Survakariada with the participation of over 1,000 children and a scientific conference "The Masquerade and the Local Community", organized by the Regional History Museum. Creative workshops, masquerade workshops for children, exhibitions and folklore concerts accompanied the event.
On Friday, the competitive masquerade group marches in the town square began. The official opening of Surva took place with a spectacular dance-music performance and light show. Guests of the event included National Assembly Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov, Deputy Minister of Tourism Irena Georgieva, MPs, Federation of European Carnival Cities President Lars Angel, ambassadors, etc.
Over 10,000 participants, including foreign groups from Greece, Romania, Serbia, Italy, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Portugal and Romania, showed their traditions and customs to the audience.
Since 2023's edition of the festival, the masquerade parades in Pernik are now three days long and start hours before the official opening of the event.
The international festival in Pernik popularizes versions of ancient rituals that have been presetved as part of the Bulgarian folklore tradition. Thousands from all ethnographic regions of Bulgaria, as well as guests from abroad, participate in the festival competition every year.
Surva was organized by the Municipality of Pernik for the first time in 1966. In 1985, the festival gained international status, and ten years later, Pernik was accepted as a member of the Federation of European Carnival Cities (FECG). On June 26, 2009, the mining town was declared the European capital of the Surva and Kuker traditions. In 2014, the city and the festival were included in National Geographic magazine's ranking of the world's top winter destinations.
The closing of the festival will take place on Sunday evening with a concert by the Slavei quartet and fireworks. On Monday, the jury is expected to announce the winners of the big festival award, the Golden Mask.
Surva is implemented with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, and BTA is among the media partners of the event.
/DT/
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