{"id":1021,"date":"2019-05-11T17:53:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T14:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2019-05-15T22:56:09","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T19:56:09","slug":"kopanitsa-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/2019\/05\/11\/kopanitsa-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Kopanitsa Village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kopanitsa village administratively\nbelongs to the municipality of Radomir. It is situated in the northwestern end\nof the Radomir valley and on the western bank of the Struma river. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the participants in the survakarska<\/em> (masquerade) group remembers\nthat the biggest winter holidays in the village were Surova and Christmas. When\nhe was a young boy, together with the other children from the neighborhood,\nthey first visited the houses with a surovatchka<\/em>\n(a decorated stick from cornel-tree used to ritually strike people on the back\nwishing them good health). Later, when they grew-up, they started preparing\ntheir own masks, which were more ordinary \u2013 from cardboard. Masked with them\nthe children joyfully went around the neighborhood. When they became young men,\ntogether with his friends they started following the older than them, who were\nmore disguised with their masks. So the time arrived for them to join the group\nof the survasharye<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kopanitsa was a big village, but was\ndivided in 23 straggling neighborhoods. So on Surova there were several groups\nin the neighborhoods Stoinevi, Karpuzovi, Gyuzelevi, etc. Later all the\nparticipants from the different neighborhoods united in one common group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgi Sergiev says: \u201cOnce the survakar went in his everyday\nclothes, because people were poor. He made one mask for himself. Our masks are\nnot big \u2013 with leather, horns and with black paint from coal. Everybody tried\nto create some fearful creature \u2013 a mask that is convenient, so that when one\nputs in on, not to take it off, and not to be recognized by anybody. One would\nput on a fur-coat with the fur turned inside out. Over that fur-coat, the bells\nwere arranged. Underneath he wore his ordinary everyday trousers \u2013 the local\nwhite homespun trousers \u2013 as we call them cheshire. With those cheshire, with\nhis fur-coat turned inside out, with his mask and with his homemade leather\nshoes (tsarvuli) \u2013 that was it. The only thing, which was once used as a rag in\nthe former life, was an old women\u2019s shirt, but already worn out and with\npatches.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgi Sergiev would also joyfully\nremember how the Kopanitsa group went as far as Radomir on Surova: \u201cWe went as far as Radomir as well; we\nvisited the organizations in the town and went down to the factories. The first\nyears we went on foot from the village to the town. We started from the upper\nend of Kopanitsa, which is within 4 km of the town, from there we went to the\nAsphalt base \u2013 it is above the town of Radomir. We started at 5 o\u2019clock in the\nmorning, went along the old part of Kopanitsa, and left the neighborhood of the\nrailway station here for visiting as late as the evening. And starting along\nthe highway we went to the Asphalt base, then went down through the town \u2013 the\nMunicipality, the Forestry Enterprise, all the social organizations and also\nsome of our fellows\u2019 and acquaintances\u2019 houses. Then we went to the factories \u2013\n\u201cGlasshouse works\u201d, \u201cVetprom\u201d, \u201cElectric\u201d. And then we went back on foot along\nthe railway track, and at last we visited that part of the village, which is\nnext to the station. It had got dark until that time. We were very tired, but\nwe were happy and satisfied to have fulfilled a great Surova celebration!\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The money the group collected during\nthe years of socialism were used mainly to support the village football team\nand the culture center (chitalishte<\/em>).\nThey also bought bells for the group. When the first cinema was built in the\nvillage, the survakari<\/em> paid for the\nchairs in it with their collected money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Georgi Sergiev, \u201cTo participate in Surova means to\nparticipate for good health. I have started from a child to go with the group\nand that\u2019s what I know. Surova means health, health, health! Nobody knows when\nthe feast started, but the tradition will be carried on after us as well!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays, there are also many young\npeople in Kopanitsa village who willingly join the masquerade group. These are\nthe children of the local people who already live in the towns, but joyfully return\nhome for Surova. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded in 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n