BANYA TOWN - KUKER DAY PROGRAMME
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Sirnitsa - On the Square Afternoon
In Banya Town, the Kuker Day takes place on the very Sirnitsa Sunday (the Bulgarian and Orthodox version of the Shrove Sunday). The celebration starts at 15 afternoon, after the lunch.
The announcement about the Kuker feast will be made through posters, and the loud music on the square have the same effect.
During the last few years, the experience shows citizens of Banya Town are not attracted by the live music on the square unlike the villages in the region so they do not provide it. “The live music works in the other villages, however in Banya Town it does not We would just waste money for musicians.”
The mayor will great the citizens, and then all the masked will show.
The Best Mask and Kuker contest has been held for at least three decades. Anyone who wish can mask; mostly children actually do it, but there are some adults too. The regulation requires authentic masks so there are folk masks, but also ones from the fairy tales and shop-made masks with accompanying costumes.
Some of the masks and scenes presented over the years are as follows:
The masked will show twice.
The jury includes a number of people: usually a teacher in arts, a choreographer from Banya, five or six art directors. The prizes will be provided by sponsors. For the children, they are mostly sweets.
After the masks, the Kukeri will come. First, they will go all together in order to allow anyone see them; the guest Kuker bands are ahead. Afterwards, each Kuker band will perform on its own; this time the Kukeri of Banya are first as they are fewer in number, and will finish in 5-8 minutes.
In 2000, the mayor rewarded with an excursion the two amateur groups of Banya Town ie the Kuker band and the women folklore one in order to stimulate them. “Because it is far not easy to establish a band.”
There will also be a horo (a traditional Bulgarian chain dance), but it is not always successful in Banya as the people do not take part in it. However, for the last few years there have always been lots of people on the square.
The feast will be over in about two hours on the square. Many parents will have taken their children to the warm homes even before the end of the mask contest.
The announcement about the Kuker feast will be made through posters, and the loud music on the square have the same effect.
During the last few years, the experience shows citizens of Banya Town are not attracted by the live music on the square unlike the villages in the region so they do not provide it. “The live music works in the other villages, however in Banya Town it does not We would just waste money for musicians.”
The mayor will great the citizens, and then all the masked will show.
The Best Mask and Kuker contest has been held for at least three decades. Anyone who wish can mask; mostly children actually do it, but there are some adults too. The regulation requires authentic masks so there are folk masks, but also ones from the fairy tales and shop-made masks with accompanying costumes.
Some of the masks and scenes presented over the years are as follows:
- Batman;
- Buffoon – a small child with a cockscomb bout abroad;
- A boza (millet-ale)shop as the one existing in the Town of Banya in the past;
- Wedding in Banya: with a bride, a groom, a godfather and a godmother. All are dressed in folklore costumes, and play and sing in front of the jury. The particular wedding in question was organised by the pensioners club.
The masked will show twice.
The jury includes a number of people: usually a teacher in arts, a choreographer from Banya, five or six art directors. The prizes will be provided by sponsors. For the children, they are mostly sweets.
After the masks, the Kukeri will come. First, they will go all together in order to allow anyone see them; the guest Kuker bands are ahead. Afterwards, each Kuker band will perform on its own; this time the Kukeri of Banya are first as they are fewer in number, and will finish in 5-8 minutes.
In 2000, the mayor rewarded with an excursion the two amateur groups of Banya Town ie the Kuker band and the women folklore one in order to stimulate them. “Because it is far not easy to establish a band.”
There will also be a horo (a traditional Bulgarian chain dance), but it is not always successful in Banya as the people do not take part in it. However, for the last few years there have always been lots of people on the square.
The feast will be over in about two hours on the square. Many parents will have taken their children to the warm homes even before the end of the mask contest.
Sirnitsa - at Home in the Evening
When the people will come back home they will prepare the table. They observe the custom of asking forgiveness (“proshka”) which in the past also included kissing the hand of the one they ask forgiveness from usually the elder family members. On the table, they will have some white khalva, a traditional pie called “banitsa”, a cock.
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Kuker Visits on Kuker DayThere will always be one or two guest Kuker bands in order to diversify the feast. They agree the conditions for participation separately wth each of the guest bands.
For the citizens of Banya, the band from the Village Gabrov Dol of Pernik Region was really attractive with their large high masks, as well as the one of Simitly Town that had taken with them all their personages (a priest, zurna ie traditional Oriental musical instruments, drums, a bear with the bear-keeper, etc.) |
The Kuker bands of almost all settlements of the Karlovo area has already been their guests however the most often guests are the Kukeri of Sushitsa District of Karlovo Town.
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