Carnival day in Slovenia

At its peak Kurentovanje in Ptuj brought together thousands of people. The international carnival procession is on a clear day involved more than 4,500 masks from more than one hundred and eight groups of many countries.

A total of 108 groups occurred procession of masks, mostly from Slovenia, some from Germany, Belgium, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Hungary and Slovakia. The most famous mask in Ptuj, the character Kurents occurred more than 600

Kurent or Korant is the most famous traditional carnival figure of the entire region. The carnival in Ptuj is named after it. At the same time, it is the most popular and frequent traditional carnival figure in the Ptuj and Drava fields, and in Haloze hills.
Kurent or Korant, as it is known today, gets its origin in popular tradition. Traditionally, the Kurent's outfit used to be reserved only to unmarried men, but nowadays Kurent-Korant can be as well married men as children and women.
There are two types of Kurent-Korant: the so-called »feathery« and the »horned« one. Kurent-Korant wears sheep skin coat, around its waist hangs a chain with huge bells, heavy boots and gaiters protect feet, while the head is covered by a cap. A wooden club is normally carried in the left hand.
On Shrove Saturday, 27th February 1960, the first organised event called Kurentovanje was held in Ptuj featuring the traditional carnival masks from Markovci lined up in a carnival procession. At the sound of music played by a local band, the ones to lead the procession were the dancing spearmen followed by ploughmen, »rusa«, a bear, the fairies, cockerels and Kurents. The typical performance and customs of each traditional mask were explained to the gathered crowd over loud-speakers. The event knew a tremendous success and aroused general interest which encouraged the organisers to continue. A year later masks from Markovci were joined by ploughmen from Lancova Vas, log-haulers from Cirkovci and the mourners coming from Hajdina. For the first time carnival (non-ethnographic) groups presented themselves in the afternoon. In 1962 the event reached beyond the local boundaries by inviting »laufarji» (runners) from Cerkno and "borovo gostuvanje" (the marriage of pine) from Predanovci in the Prekmurje region. But the international dimension was only acquired in the years to follow when local and Slovene traditional masks were joined by masks from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Hungary, Austria, Italy, and many others. On the other hand, thousands of spectators came to the carnival for the amusing and varied carnival part.
The main event of Kurentovanje is the procession of traditional carnival masks and groups taking place on Shrove Sunday in the afternoon. For a great number of years the constituent part of the event was also the presentation of individual traditional carnival groups taking place either on Saturday or Sunday morning prior to the afternoon procession. In 1994 Kurentovanje knew an upgrade as the event was conceived to last for more than a couple of days featuring various carnival events, performances of traditional carnival masks on the square in front of the Town Hall, the burial of the Carnival, and the organised entertainment programme held in the carnival tent. In 1999 the organisers introduced the Prince of the Carnival who has since been chosen among numerous active perpetuators of the masquerading tradition in the region of Ptuj. The enthronement of the Prince takes place on 11th November each year - on St. Martin's Day - which has become an important cultural and entertaining event in itself.
During the past few years, the carnival time has started at midnight on 2nd February -Candlemas. Budina, one of the mostly rural suburbs of Ptuj, stages the event - a huge bonfire around which start dancing, on the strike of twelve, Kurents, simply equipped with a chain and five bells, holding a wooden club in their hands, thus announcing the beginning of carnival. From this moment on Kurents are "allowed" to do their habitual rounds.

The marry part of the carnival has gladly followed this habit and nowadays lasts for approximately eleven days, starting on Saturday, a week before Shrove Sunday, when only traditional carnival masks form a procession on the streets of Ptuj and when the Prince of the Carnival is bestowed upon the honour to rule the town during the carnival period. Each day features performances of masks and many other entertaining events taking place on the square in front of the Town Hall and in the carnival tent. All these activities culminate in the Saturday's procession of traditional, and typically carnival masks, children's carnival parade, the burial of Carnival and the return of power to the Mayor of the town. But sometimes there are just a few days between Candlemas and Shrove Tuesday which means that other activities are of shorter duration, too. Consequently, this strongly influences the entire programme and development of the event.
The idea of an organised carnival event in Ptuj came up in the 50's of the last century, as the carnival masks spontaneously formed processions on Shrove Tuesday preceded by a band. That was how in 1959 Drago Hasl, strongly backed by those who shared his views, proposed to the Historical Society of Ptuj to take over the organisation and the implementation of the carnival event that should be named after the most well-known mask Kurent - Kurentovanje in Ptuj. Drago Hasl, indefatigable organiser of Kurentovanje since its beginnings until the 70's of the past century, was strongly convinced that the organised event could prevent the extremely rapid progression toward extinction of carnival habits in the surrounding villages; on the other hand, such performances could meet expectations of numerous spectators. Hasl also made a draft regarding the content and outlined the major guidelines to be followed in order to transform Kurentovanje into an event of ethnographic importance containing the unique carnival figures and habits from the Ptuj region, which could have been joined at a later stage by other traditional Slovene masks, thus making the event grow into a festival of masks. He equally planned to expand the content of the event by introducing contemporary carnival masks. The conjunction of the aforementioned guidelines and efforts employed by the organisers has turned Kurentovanje into the Carnival of European dimensions, confirmed also by admitting the town of Ptuj into the European Federation of Carnival Cities (EFCC-FECC) in 1991.
In 2010 will be celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first organised procession of traditional carnival masks in Ptuj. The carnival, held from 6th to 16th February 2010, is being well prepared, for we are aware that only quality and variety of activities can decently celebrate such an important jubilee of the most ancient and popular carnival event in Slovenia.
Source: http://www.kurentovanje.net

A strong element of local identity of the municipality and its inhabitants are »Laufarji«, one of the most recognizable traditional carnival groups in Slovenia. They are noted for masks carved from linden wood, and clothes of natural material (ivy, spruce, straw, moss, material remaining after linen weaving). The "Cerkno Laufarija" has been carried out for centuries according to unwritten rules passed on to the next generation by word of mouth. The central "Laufar" figure is "Pust", dressed in clothes covered with moss, holding a young spruce tree. He is accompanied by the other figures called "ta br%u0161ljanasti", "ta tirjesta", "ta star", "ta stara", "lamant", etc. Only "Ta star" ("The Old One") can speak, all the rest have to be silent. There are 25 of them in total and their scenario provides the most dramatically complete plot of all Slovene festival masks. "Pust" is at the Cerkno square blamed by everybody for all bad that has happened in the past year and is in the end sentenced to death, to be killed by a woodman's hammer - mallet. Every year carnival events attract numerous visitors. Since November 2010 Laufarija Cerkno has entered in the Slovenian register of living cultural heritage.
Source and photo: http://www.laufarija-cerkno.si/