All over Croatia, there is a strong carnival tradition which repeats itself every year. In some parts this tradition is much stronger practiced than in other but, in general, it is weakening every year...

The Beginning Of The Carnival Time

In most parts of Croatia, carnival time starts on the 17th of January - the St. Anthony day, but somewhere even on the 6th of January which is also celebrated as The Three Kings' Day by the Catholics & as Christmas Eve by the Orthodox. On that day a carnival puppet is hanged publicly in the center of the city. In some cities, different carnival puppets are hanged in several different neighborhoods. That's a case in my hometown Opatija which has more than 100 years tradition of celebrating the carnival. On this day the mayors of the cities where the carnival is being celebrated, give the "keys" of the city to the carnival "master" which marks the official beginning of the carnival time.

The Origins

It is said that the carnival originates from the time of the Roman Empire when all the Adriatic sea coastline was a part of that same Roman Empire. Thou the customs have been changed significantly from that time, one thing has stayed the same & that is the carnival "motto" - "Everything is allowed during the carnival festival!" Usually I'm the president of The NGO Akt with a base in my hometown & one of our main projects was Masked Electronic Renaissance d'Abbazia. It went 7 years in a row but this year the local city government didn't support it so I gave up the idea. However, we made a puppet! It started just as a carnival party but later turned up to be a festival including workshops, contests, art installations & performances.

Some of the coolest moments from our parties:

Customs Practices

Very often, the carnival time is called "a fifth season". It is more likely to be a more accurate & more natural period to be referred to as the New Year cause naturally the winter finishes & the spring starts - the awaking of Nature, the beginning of the new life cycle...

After the puppet has been hanged, 3-5 weeks of the festival follow, depending of the calendar. During these weeks many different rituals & ceremonies are performed as well as the parades & processions. All those weeks lasts the puppet's trial where all the bad things & evil from the last year is cast into the puppet &, of course, it is convicted for that evil... During the carnival period everything is allowed to be said too & hardly criticized with a strong craving for the truth!

There are some customs for which is said that are coming directly & only from the Slavic nations but of course that the nations mixed & so did the customs... In Croatian version of the carnival festival there are these true traditional masks called "zvončari" - the bell carriers. The legend says that these bell carriers were invented during the Ottoman invasions in Balkans where the Turks occupied a vast Southern Slavs territory including Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & parts of nowadays Croatia. Due to the power & size of the Turk army, the domestic nations needed to figure out how to trick the Turks & try to stay free & independent so they came to idea to dress themselves in the horrifying masks representing many different beasts & demons, well equipped, armed & ready for battle & carrying bells. These troops were patrolling the border areas & on every sign of the Turks, they would attack. These attacks were bad surprises for the Turks. When the Turks would hear those bells' noise, their moral would fall rapidly, cause they believed that the bell carriers were the beasts from another world. It is said that very often they would drop all the weapons & ran away even without a fight... Today, their weapon is "mačuga" - a type of a club.

More About The Bell Carriers

Most of the Croatian bell carriers troops have their bases in the villages in the North-West of Croatia grouped around the biggest city in the region - Rijeka, just under the mountain Učka. Rijeka is a home for one of the biggest carnival processions in the Europe & one of the few bigger in the world. (A clue into it you can get in this video.)

The bell carriers could be found in Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, probably Serbia & Macedonia but even in Austria & Germany in some a bit different form & with a different purpose.

The nowadays purpose of the Croatian bell carriers is to cheer up the people in the cold winter days & to bring joy to the most remote villages where maybe only few people live, most often old people. Every weekend during these few weeks of the carnival season all the bell carriers troops go for the whole day roundabouts (I guess, like they were patrolling along the Ottoman's border in the past).

I have joined their walkabouts several times in the past few years & I'm thinking of doing it again this year! I have witnessed their paths which start around 09:00 h & finish around 22:00 in the evening - somewhat around 12 h of walking - like in the army! & they have their "master - leader", something like a sergeant who they need to obey!

In every village they stop for refreshments organized by the locals & very often live music follows them or awaits them.

In some places they burn small fires: 

 

Most of the bell carriers are big, strong men & the bells are transferred like a heritage from father to son. It means that not everybody can become a bell carrier! It is said to be a great honor & responsibility to wear the bells!

Younger generations watch & learn:

The End Of The Carnival

All the carnival parades & procession in this Croatian North-West region finish with the noise & performances of the bell carriers troops! The carnival season finishes by burning the puppet on the Ash Wednesday which always comes in different time each year. On that day, all the practitioners take off their masks & all the puppets' trials are being concluded & all the puppets are being burned. In that moment the Lent starts.

This is how we ended up the last year's M.E.R.D.A. festival & the carnival festival in general but we kept the masks on cause we are modernizing the tradition & changing it:

I am the author of all the photos in this post & I've also recorded & edited all the videos in the post (except the one about the Rijeka's Carnival Procession).