site.btaAround 30 Puppet and Masquerade Troupes from all over Bulgaria to Participate in Elders in Turia National Festival

Around 30 puppet and masquerade troupes from all over Bulgaria will take part in the 2023 edition of the National Festival of Masquerade Games Elders in Turia, which will take place in the village of Pavel Banya on March 25, said local Deputy Mayor Yordana Eneva. The festival is part of Chudomir Days 2023, dedicated to the famous writer - humorist and artist Dimitar Chorbadzhiyski - Chudomir, born on March 25, 1890 in the village of Turia.

Participants from the municipality of Pavel Banya, who will take part in the festival, are from 12 ensembles, and so far about 15 kuker and masquerade ensembles from different settlements have applied for participation. Groups from the municipalities of Tundzha, Kazanlak, Karlovo, Straldzha, Saedinenie, Pernik, Burgas, Yambol, Shumen, Pazardzhik and others will take part. Eneva said that more than a thousand people are expected to participate.

The festival dates back to the 1960s, when only Pernik and Turia were hosts of such festivals. The event has been called Elders in Turia for 15 years and has been organized annually since then. Yordana Eneva also said that in recent years the masquerade games have attracted a lot of interest and many guests from different parts of Bulgaria gather in Turia.   

The masquerade festival is a competition and the evaluations are given by a special jury, the Deputy Mayor explained. Before the award ceremony, the amateur group of the Chudomir-1905 community centre will honour its patron with a performance, and the festive day will end with a men's dance in the waters of the Turiyska River.

According to her, this is the last Kuker festival in Bulgaria scheduled for 2023, as Kuker games are traditionally performed around the Midsummer festival at the end of winter and before the onset of spring.

The Chudomir Days 2023 in the municipality of Pavel Banya started yesterday with a presentation of Dimitar Chorbadzhiyski's work in the recently opened Interactive History Centre in the Pavel Banya People's Community Centre. On Wednesday, at the centre of Turia village, children from different municipalities will be dressed up as Chudomir's characters and present their reading of his stories. On Friday in the centre of the village will take place the performance "Engagement", related to the evening ritual characteristic of the local Kuker games, which is a transition to the most attractive event in the festive programme – the Elders in Turia festival.