Bulgaria’s International Festival of the Masquerade Games
The International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain.
- Dancers, known as “Kukeri”, perform on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)
- Dancers, known as “Kukeri”, perform on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)
- A dancer, known as “Kukeri”, performs on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)
- Dancers, known as “Kukeri”, perform on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)
- A dancer, known as “Kukeri”, performs on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)
- Dancers, known as “Kukeri”, perform on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)
- Dancers, known as “Kukeri”, perform on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)
- Dancers, known as “Kukeri”, perform on January 29, 2017 during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near the capital Sofia. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants sporting multi-colored masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images)