{"id":1034,"date":"2019-05-11T17:56:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T14:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/?p=1034"},"modified":"2019-05-29T23:55:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T20:55:39","slug":"kosharevo-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/2019\/05\/11\/kosharevo-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Kosharevo Village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kosharevo village is located near the town of Breznik, between Lyubash\nand Cherna gora Mountains. The local population is really proud of their\ncelebration of the traditional Surva \u2013 so much so that they call the village\n\u201cThe center of Surva\u201d. There has been a big celebration for Surva in the center\nof the village for many years. The local population is around 180 people, of\nwhich roughly 100-120 participate in the masquerade group. The young people\nlive and work in the nearby cities but they never miss returning home for\nSurva, even those living abroad come back for Surva. The feeling one receives by\nparticipating in these traditions is amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A century ago only young men could join the group but now everybody is\nwelcome to attend the celebration. Nowadays, the women and children are even\nmore numerous because their enthusiasm and interest has grown. The children\u2019s\ngroup has two leaders and one of them usually takes the leadership role from\nhis father and grandfather. The costumes are made from red fabric so they are\nrecognizable and their masks amaze everybody with their impressive heights of\n4-5 meters. If you ask somebody from the village when they believed the\ncelebration of Surva tradition started, they will reply: \u201cEver since the Earth has\nbeen turning\u201d.  The locals have a lot of\nchickens and turkeys, so they give all the bird feathers and wings to the\nmasquerade group. Sometimes they even use pigeon wings, but this sometimes\nattracts the attention of the local police force \u2013 and can get them in trouble.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The participants in the masquerade group of Kosharevo village bring with\nthem wooden hammers. Years ago, they had wooden swords, but now they wanted to\ndifferentiate themselves from the others. This year they even ordered\ntraditional Bulgarian shoes for all the participants, to look good and be even\nmore authentic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The youngest participant in the group is only 2 years old. He is not\npart of the children group, he is stays right next to his father. One of the\nother young participants is 5 years old and last year he spent the whole night\ncrossing the village with the group without giving up. The group is so big and\nnumerous that the main square in the town of Breznik (where a local masquerade\nfestival is performed) is not big enough for all of them. This is the reason\nwhy only a part of the group joins the celebration there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The oldest woman in the village created a special song for the days of\nSurva and the locals love singing it. The song ends with the words: \u201cIt is\nagain the Surva celebration and the bells will jingle all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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