{"id":1123,"date":"2019-05-11T18:24:49","date_gmt":"2019-05-11T15:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/?p=1123"},"modified":"2019-10-03T20:37:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T17:37:52","slug":"noevtsi-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/survakari.com\/en\/2019\/05\/11\/noevtsi-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Noevtsi Village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The village of Noevtsi is situated in the Graovo area,\n20 km from the town of Pernik. In the near past, its inhabitants were 1200.\nToday they are less than a half of it, but all of them speak about their\nbirthplace with enthusiasm and love: \u201cWe\nkeep and love Bulgarian traditional holidays. On St Nicolaus\u2019 Day, we gather\nfor a kurban (votive offering) up at the church. On Pentecost is the village\u2019s\nfair and there is a wild merriment on the square. On Shrovetide, everyone asks\nforgiveness from his family and relatives, and even the mayor always gathers\nthe villagers and asks forgiveness from them. We burn fires and the young jump\nthem over, the children swing oratnitsi (torches with straw on the top)\u2026 But<\/em> <\/em>the<\/em> <\/em>best<\/em> <\/em>is<\/em> <\/em>on<\/em> 14 <\/em>January<\/em> \u2013 <\/em>Surova<\/em>. <\/em>The masks of our\nsurvakari are the most interesting, because they do not match each other \u2013\neveryone makes his own one by himself and nobody sees it until it is ready. And\nthe next year he either supplements and changes it or makes a new one. There\nare people who have made themselves 5 or 6 masks and constantly change them.\nThe faces of the masks are from walnut tree. They put around it leather, horns,\ntails, hoofs \u2013 what not! Once our survashkari were with masks from feathers and\ntheir costumes were from old rags cut into pieces. Today they like more the\nmasks from wood and leather. And their costumes are also from leather with the\nfur outside. They gather them throughout the whole year. The more fearful they\nare with their masks, leather costumes and big bells, the more evil creatures\nthey will expel. There is a leader (bolyubashiya) in the group dressed in a revolutionary\nuniform, a \u2018bride\u2019, a \u2018bridegroom\u2019, a \u2018priest\u2019, a \u2018cashier\u2019, \u2018father-in-law\u2019,\n\u2018mother-in-law\u2019\u2026 They distribute those roles on a gathering, which the group\nalways carries out in December. The \u2018bride\u2019 is the most handsome boy. For the\n\u2018priest\u2019 they chose an elderly and serious man, and for the leader \u2013 an\nauthoritative young man. The group comprises about 70 people, and for the\nPernik festival, they are more than 100. There are also women and little\nchildren among them, but mostly are men.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the very 14 January in the morning, about 7\no\u2019clock, the masquerade group gathers in the center of the village and goes\naround from house to house to greet the hosts and to wish them good health and prosperity.\nThe village resounds with the bells. All the inhabitants wait for the masked,\nenjoy their visit, gift them with money, meat, wine and rakia (brandy), sweets,\nfruits. At some places, they invite them inside for abundant meals with ritual\nfood \u2013 meat with cabbage, banitsa (cheese pie). They do not stay for long, for\nthey have to go around the whole village until the evening. The \u2018priest\u2019 \u2018marries\u2019\nthe \u2018young couple\u2019, pronounces a prayer for good health to the hosts and for\nfun incenses them with hot peppers instead of frankincense. In every yard, the\nsurvakari perform their heavy survashkari horo (chain dance). They do not enter\nin houses, where there is someone ill or recently deceased. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After visiting all the houses in the village, the\nsurvakari gather in the square, dance with the masks around the fire and\ncelebrate with all local people and guests, while the forest and the field\nresound with the bells until late at night. In the recent years, the Noevtsi\ngroup exchanges visits with the survakari from the village of Gabrov Dol and\nthe merriment with the masks, fires, torches and outdancing becomes \u2018quite a\nmiracle\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the gathered money, the group buys the voivode\ncostume for the leader, the drums for the two drum players, the priest clothes for\nthe \u2018priest\u2019. Part of the sum the participants invariably grant for sick people\nor people in need, for furnishing the school with new technical equipment and\nfor organizing feasts for all the inhabitants. In the recent past, they\ngathered their fellow-villagers on 24 May. Today they make a survakari kurban\n(votive offering). Every year on 6 May \u2013 St George\u2019s Day \u2013 in the Glave area,\nthey pitch tents, put tables and benches, arrange an exhibition with their\nbest-sounding bells, cook and hand out boiled lamb for the health of the\nsurvakari and of all the villagers. The whole village is there, the dances and\nthe merriment do not end until late at night. This is their way to thank the\npeople for always welcoming them with joy and love. And everyone knows \u2013 as\nlong as the world lasts, the Surova will be the most expected and favorite\nfeast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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