{"id":1014,"date":"2019-05-11T17:40:47","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T14:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2019-10-03T20:42:32","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T17:42:32","slug":"kovachevtsi-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/2019\/05\/11\/kovachevtsi-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Kovachevtsi Village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The village of Kovachevtsi is only 25\nkm from the district town Pernik. Its history and culture provoke one\u2019s\ninterest and its nature attracts hundreds of tourists. The National Children\u2019s\nEcological Complex brings life to the whole region. In the neighborhood are\n\u2018Pchelina\u2019 dam and the Bread House, where the experience is like in a fairy\ntale\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most fascinating is the feast Surova\non 13 and 14 January, when the whole valley of Svetlya river resounds with the\nroar of thousands of bells. That is the reason they call it \u2018The Valley of the\nMasks\u2019. The central settlement in it is Kovachevtsi and any other masquerade\ngroup passes this way to greet the local survakari and residents. The\nMunicipality\u2019s door is widely open and the Mayor joyfully greets the masked. On\nthe square, there is a big roasted pig and beside it all day long they offer\nwine and rakia (brandy).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great part of the village\ninhabitants participates in the local masquerade group. Once, some decades ago,\nonly men were involved, but today many women and children also disguise and put\nbells on their belts. One of the young girls, invited for an interview, puts\noff her mask and says: \u201cI don\u2019t care how\nthe custom looked like centuries ago. Throughout the year I wait for that day,\nI made myself several masks and I am going to take part. It brings great joy\nfor me and I would not replace it for anything else. I feel like playing and I\nwill play! And as for children\u2026, children are even more enthusiastic about the\nSurova. If you try to persuade a small child not to put a mask, because in\ntraditional past children did not disguise, the child will cry all over the\nday\u2026 Let all those who like the feast put on masks!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the survakari make their\nmasks together \u2013 they come back from work, gather in one of the premises of the\nold municipal building, retell some jocular stories, exchange jokes and work on\nthe masks some months before Surova. They do not compete which mask will be the\nbest. Some of them are from animal leather, horns and tails; others are from\nbird\u2019s feathers, pasted closely to one another like in a carpet; but all of\nthem are rather beautiful. The woodcarver Kamen Yankov also helps in\nmanufacturing the wooden faces. It is not only a vocation and love for him, but\nan irresistible passion as well. The survakari costumes are from many-colored\nbands, and the heavy many-voiced bells are tied to the waist. They elect the\nleader of the group, the \u2018bride\u2019, the \u2018bridegroom\u2019 and the \u2018priest\u2019 on a\nspecial gathering. Some years ago, the leader was the mayor himself and\neverybody joked with him, that the leadership of the masked survakari was more\ndifficult than being a mayor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survakari group of Kovachevtsi\nvisits many of the surrounding villages, dancing together with the hosts around\nthe fire and enjoying their hospitality. On 14 January, however, it is always\nin its own village in order to visit all the houses and to wish health and good\nluck to their hosts. Everywhere people impatiently anticipate them, the doors\nbeing widely open, the tables piled with ritual meals \u2013 banitsa (cheese pie),\ncabbage with meat, jelly \u2013 and no one letting them out. The \u2018bear\u2019 maules the\nadults for health and tries to frighten the young, and the bear keeper plays\nthe rebec and invites everyone to the horo (chain dance) in the yard outside.\nAnd in this way, all day long, in every house. Some of the survakari take off\ntheir heavy masks, because the village is big and they might get tired, but the\nyoungest and the children carry them until the end to remain unrecognized\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end of the day, both the\nsurvakari and the hosts who welcomed them are on the square for the common\nvillage merriment. It lasts until midnight and no one is in a hurry to go home,\nbecause the next Surova is far, far ahead \u2013 as late as the next year. And for\nthe most beloved feast this is quite a time\u2026 For that reason in the very center\nof the village a museum called \u2018The Valley of the Masks\u2019 is opened and everyone\nwho is willing that the custom is preserved for the future generations brings\nin it interesting exhibits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded in 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n