Classroom lesson · Festival · 🇸🇮 Slovenia
Costumed 'Kurents' chase winter away with bells and sheepskin
Photo · Wikimedia Commons
Kurentovanje is a winter-into-spring carnival in the town of Ptuj. People dress up as 'Kurents' in long sheepskin coats with feathers, masks with horns, and huge cowbells around their waists. They dance and ring the bells to scare winter away.
The carnival takes place in February. Hundreds of Kurents march through the streets in a noisy, colourful procession.
The sheepskin costume weighs about 25 kilograms - heavier than most school bags - and the bells are loud enough to make windows shake.
Kurentovanje is on the UNESCO list of cultural traditions to protect, alongside things like Spanish flamenco and Japanese kabuki.
Cut paper bells and paste them around a paper-plate mask. Give your mask a name and a job (e.g. 'rain chaser', 'wake-up bringer').
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