lugvelesasrz:langsandlit:beautiful-basque-country: wordsmithic: beautiful-basque-country:lugvelesasr

lugvelesasrz:langsandlit:beautiful-basque-country: wordsmithic: beautiful-basque-country:lugvelesasrz:Masked processions of the SlavsKurenti in SloveniaDondolashi in CroatiaBushari in BaranjaKoledari in SerbiaKukeri in BulgariaMechkari in MacedoniaKolednicy in PolandKolyadniki in UkraineOkrutniki in RussiaImportant part of the Slavic winter solstice celebration were masked processions. Younger men, clothed in animal fur, carrying horns and bells would march from village to village throughout the region, making an extraordinary amount of noise, fueled in part by the wine provided by the locals. Their primary task is to scare away evil spirits, and bring fertility to household. In this zoomorphic costumes they would represent ancestors, who came from otherworld to celebrate beginning of the new cycle with the living. In the time of winter solstice cult of ancestors and cult of vegetation are heavily intertwined. Ooooh, we love this! There are veeeery similar costumes, characters and celebrations that still survive in very different zones of Europe, that are clearly remains of a very ancient and common religion or rite.See how similar masked characters we have in Euskal Herria: In mainland Greece, too, we have similar “monsters” and rituals in various areas!Sometimes the bride (usually played by a man) is abducted and it’s said to be a remnant of a re-enactment of the abduction of the goddess Persephone by Hades.In other areas, the Dionysiac character of the festival is accentuated by the presence of a man who pretends to be the god of wine, vegetation, happiness, Dionysos.Find more Greek traditions here We LOVE this!! Sardinia Beautiful! Here is a video about Slavic tradition we also mention relation to other Pan-European and more broad customs.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09HiGxzYkNUEnglish subtitles are available! -- source link

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