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Surva holiday celebrated in Graovsko and all over Western Bulgaria

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Photo: survakari.com

The Surva festival begins with the lighting of bonfires and mummers dancing the horo chain danie around the fires on the night of January 13-14. 

The power and timelessness of the masquerade tradition has led UNESCO to declare it a World Heritage Site. The purpose of the ritual fires and dances is to bless the land and the people for a better life and to drive away evil spirits. Boys grow into men as they perform the Surva rites. The doors of every house are thrown wide open to welcome the Survakar parties. 

This thousand-year-old tradition is the most awaited and zealously guarded in the region, handed down from father to son. Each year the masks and costumes are renewed. Younger children and women also take part in the masquerade. 

In each procession there is a "leader", "the newlyweds", "the priest", "the bear with the bear-ward", according to the Ethnographic Museum in Pernik.

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