Group of Kukeri dancers with intricate costumes and large bells waiting to participate in the traditional annual festival in Sofia, Bulgaria, Europe


Kukeri dancers with intricate costumes, large bells and masks dancing at the traditional annual festival. Kukeri is a centuries-old tradition intended to chase evil spirits away and to invite good, held around early winter or midwinter. The participants wear oversized bells, embroidered costumes, and fantastical masks to participate in the winter ritual. Kukeri survived Christianization, an Ottoman occupation lasted 500 years, and the Communism.


Size: 5260px × 3757px
Location: Sofia, Bulgaria, Europe
Photo credit: © Ognyan Yosifov / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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