Kukeri are Bulgarian ritual carnival figures, men dressed as beasts or as typical characters: grandmother, grandfather, tax collector, king). Their main purpose is to drive away evil forces. They are also called chaushi, babugeri, stanchinari, dervishes, starci, surati or jamalari
The games are performed only by men, mostly bachelors. These chasers of evil perform their rituals on New Year's Day or on Cheese Sunday and the Monday after Cheese Lent (Kukerovden). All year round, the participants carefully make their masks and costumes. Most masks have a wooden structure, on which they glue multi-colored threads, fabrics, mirrors or shiny sequins. Predominant again, as with the costumes, is the color red, a symbol of fertility, of nature, which is constantly renewed and reborn, of the sun and fire. Other basic colors are black and white, as a symbol of mother earth and water and light.
It is believed that the puppet shows are connected with the Dionysian mysteries, as well as the fire-making. This was necessary because of the obligatory presence of the goat and bull masks. Some masks have two faces, as a symbol of good and evil. On one side the nose is pointed and the face is good-natured; on the other the nose is hunchbacked and the face is sinister. In addition to the visual effect, the masks also have an effect through the bells, copper or cast, bronze, hung on the players.
Several Kukeri bands are formed in the village. Each band has its own leader – a grandmother, a Kukeritsa, a Kukeri bride, a king, a swindler, two or four kharacari and a barber.
The leader of the Kukeri band is dressed in skins with the fur on the outside – sheep, deer or goat. In his hand he carries a wooden phallus, in red, and a wooden pole with a rag tied to the end. The pole is used to wash the oven. He has a leather mask on his head, and his face is painted red. His waist is girded with clappers (bells). The grandmother carries a basket of yarn, a khurka or a spindle. She is dressed in rags. She also carries a “child” made of wood and rags or steals a real child while the band walks around the village. The role of the kharachari is to collect “unpaid taxes” from the people. For this purpose, they carry a chain with which they catch debtors. The plyufkachi have shaved skin on their heads to make them look bald. Their faces are black and they carry wooden weapons, usually bows, with which they shoot ashes into the faces of the audience. The king is dressed in festive clothes, he may have an artificial beard. The other kukers are dressed predominantly in leather.
You can read more about magical Bulgarian customs in the collection
Folklore collection "Once upon a time - manners and worldview of the Bulgarians"
There are several basic ritual moments in puppetry. First, the group goes around all the homes and wishes for health, fertility, and luck. The house-to-house visits are only held at night: “The sun should not cook them on the roads.” During the ritual, they perform various funny scenes from everyday life. The housewives give the puppeteers flour, beans, eggs, etc.
The second moment is mainly performed by the king. He ritually plows and sows, usually in the home of the pre-selected most personal farmer in the village. The farmer must have a firstborn boy or be the father of twins. It was believed that this leads to fertility of the year. A table was laid for the king in the village square. He ate three bites, drank a little wine and called for health and prosperity. Then he drove the harnessed kukers into the plow, plowed three furrows together in a circle and sowed the plowed land. Finally, the kukers symbolically killed the king, who then resurrected. The “murder” was carried out with the weapon they carried – a crossbow.
The White Kuker in Strandzha – a lesser-known and different ritual
At the end of the village square, the Kukeri perform wild dances, loudly jingling the bells hung on them. The spectators also get involved with the Kukeri. The Kukeri jump high, “so that the wheat grows high”, jingling bells, waving swords and maces. Participants from two groups fight and the results of this fight are used to predict the well-being during the year. If drops of blood fall, there will be prosperity. The custom ends with a general village dance in the square. With the money and food collected, the participants in the carnival throw a feast.
In some villages (Marinov, 2003) On the night before New Year's Eve, the "camel" custom is performed. It was very important to provide the ritual props. The custom is based on the ancient idea of reincarnation, which is why the mask is of great importance. When making the masks, the craftsmen show their imagination and skill. They are carefully stored and refreshed every year. The "camels" are made from two willow trees, 1-1.5 meters long, which are joined at both ends with two perpendicular sticks. The two parallel trees are connected with several curved sticks of hornbeam or dogwood. The skeleton made in this way is covered with burlap. The head of the "camel" is covered with leather or a weasel is strung on it. They tie flaps on the front and back of the "camel" and attach a tail to it. The camel made in this way is carried by a young man who is dressed in a costume, with white turbans, black cords, and shod in tservuli. The boy must be healthy and strong so that he can play and defeat another "camel" when he meets it. The dividzhii are dressed in fur coats with the fur on the outside. They wear a leather belt around their waist with bells and clappers attached at the back. On their heads they put a shayak mask decorated with colored threads, ribbons, lace, and checkers. The dividzhii carries a wooden sword in one hand and a mace in the other. In the past, only bachelors participated, but in recent years married men have also taken part. When the carolers leave the yard, the dividzhii and the camel, which is called "Mariyka", begin to play. They speak little and perform various ritual actions. The participants must not be recognized by their fellow villagers in order to attract fertility and for their games to be successful. Hidden behind the masks, the participants perform actions that in other times would have been perceived as debauchery and unbridledness. The masked people jump, jingle bells, roll on the ground, sharpen their swords with maces, and play various pranks. The participants are made to topple and fall over in order to make the heavy wheat ears lie down on the field. By rolling on the ground, they seek to absorb life force from the earth in order to be healthy. The sound of the bells drives away all evil.
The camel falls to the ground, the wild man begins to sharpen his sword, explaining to the owners: "My camel has come from afar and is bald, I need money to buy it horseshoes, otherwise I will have to slaughter it." The owner gives a piece of sausage for the horseshoe and money. The wild man "shoes" the camel, holding a mace on its leg and hitting it with his sword. But the camel still does not get up, it has fallen ill, and it needs medicine - a piece of kebab - to get well. The wild man rubs the body and head of the "animal" with the meat and it stands up. This "death" and "resurrection" of the zoomorphic creature personifies the death in nature in winter and its resurrection in spring. In carnival games, ritual murder is common and is perceived as a magical act. To ensure the revival of nature in spring, following the principle of imitative magic, it is necessary to perform or imitate murder and resurrection. (Marinov Dimitar Folk Faith and Religious Folk Customs. Second phototype edition. – Sofia, 1994)
The Kuker procession is noisy and cheerful. There is spectacle, conflicts, different characters and memorable improvisations. The special thing here is that both the Kuker participants and the spectators themselves are the main characters. The main thing here is that the Kuker are dressed scary, the whole action is based on laughter - the main means of driving away evil forces and diseases. Laughter is the living magical force with which the plant and animal world was revived.
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© 2024 Iliana Dechkova