Lyulin village is situated in the southwestern\nslopes of Lyulin Mountain. It is 8 km away from the town of Pernik and is not\nfar from the capital Sofia. It is composed from two previous villages \u2013 Raylovo\nand Tsarnel, which are united in 1961, while the new settlement is named after\nthe Lyulin Mountain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The local community\u2019s memory about\nthe custom Surova<\/em> is from the\nbeginning of the 20th<\/sup> century. One of the oldest inhabitants \u2013 the\n95-years old Evgeni Grigorov, tells his grandson what he remembers about the\nmasquerade performances from his early childhood. When the bear keepers came in\nhis home, he was afraid of them. Then his granny told him: \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid! This is your uncle Vane\u201d<\/em>. It becomes clear from\nthis narrative, that the uncle of grandfather Evgeni disguised himself and it\nhappened not later than the second decade of the 20th<\/sup> c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a survakars<\/em> group in the village also at the time of socialism \u2013 some\nblack-and-white photos from that time are preserved in the archive collection\nof the culture house (chitalishte<\/em>).\nSome of the survakari<\/em> documented on\nthose photos, despite their advanced age, in our days still continue to\ndisguise themselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the local people\u2019s\naccounts, as is evident also from some earlier photo-documents, once the Lyulin\nsurvakari<\/em> used animal leathers for\ntheir costumes. They turned the fur inside out, and on their waists they\nstringed bells together. They used as well leather and horns for the masks.\nThen, many animals were raised in the village and providing horns was not a\nproblem. The masquerade group had all the personages, which are now performed\non the feast as well \u2013 \u201cbridegroom\u201d, \u201cbride\u201d, \u201cpriest\u201d, \u201cbear with a\nbear-keeper\u201d. They performed the ritual \u201csurvakars<\/em>\nwedding\u201d. The masked men brought with them also a donkey with saddlebags. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After mid-1990-ies, many young people\njoin the masquerade group with great enthusiasm. The core of the group in the\nvillage now are young people and men at the age between 35 and 40 years. The\nculture house Secretary Albena Grigorova with pleasure points out the\nchildren\u2019s presence and will to put on masks. They participate with enthusiasm,\n\u201cwhile the adults are keen to welcome\nthem every year on Surova in their homes\u201d<\/em>, she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today the survakars<\/em> group of Lyulin is among the most numerous in Pernik\nregion \u2013 it reaches up to 120 people. All of the participants are inhabitants\nof the village or else their kin descent derives from the local community. The costumes\nof the masked are from many-colored rags, while the very masks are made of high\nwooden constructions, decorated with feathers. The disguised go around the\nneighborhoods in the village, and the hosts welcome them with joy. In every\nhome \u201cthe priest performs the marriage ceremony\u201d, \u201cthe bear mauls\u201d the host for\ngood health, the \u201cwedding party\u201d dance a survakars<\/em>\nhoro (chain dance). Numerous are the gifts that the group receives on the\nfeast. In 2016, the survakars <\/em>collected\nthem (meat, fruits, rakia) in the luggage-carrier of a taxi-car \u2013 a bright idea,\nwhich is a part of the various jokes and innovations, which inevitably go along\nwith the contemporary masquerade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recorded in 2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n