Slovenian Carnival

Carnival or pust is one of the most popular holidays in Slovenia. It is believed that it dates all the way back to the days of early Christianity. It is a movable holiday that can take place in either February or March, always on a Tuesday 47 days before Easter (Shrove Tuesday). One day later, on Ash Wednesday, begins the 40-day-Lenten fast. Because it precedes a period of fasting, carnival time is characterized by excessive indulgence, and copious amounts of fried food. Carnival-goers often wear masks that have historically served to protect their identities.

It is thought that the word carnival comes from carnelevare, from carnis, meaning meat, and levare, to remove, hinting at the fast that follows the merrymaking. The Slovenian word for carnival, pust, which was already known to Trubar in the 16th century, probably comes from the word mesopust, i.e. from the words meso, which means meat, and pust, which means to leave. In this sense the word pust can be considered a literal translation of the Italian carnival.

Traditional Masks

*The Sorcerer* at the cave of Les Trois Freres from the original tracing by Breuil.

Masking has been around for as long as mankind. It is believed that already in the Stone Age people masked themselves in furs and animal hides when they went hunting in order to get closer to their prey. The oldest depiction of a masked man is from the cave of Trois Frères in the French Pyrenees and dates back to the Paleolithic.

The oldest masks were ceremonial and were used in rituals — people believed that they helped them communicate with spirits of animals, nature, and the dead. For example, the Cretan-Mycenaean culture (2000 BC) left behind death masks and various depictions of demons with an animal head and a human body. Archeologists found bronze death masks in Etruscan graves as well as paintings depicting masked men with birds’, rabbits’ or bulls’ heads. Also preserved are rings and reliefs with half human and half animal images.

The popular tradition of animal mumming in a medieval manuscript (from the ‘Roman d'Alexandre.’ Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford).

With the advent of Christianity, the masks lost their ritual meaning, but the deeply rooted celebrations remained popular and people were reluctant to give them up. Two such festivals were the Saturnalia and January Kalends. The Saturnalia, held in mid-December, were a pagan festival honoring the agricultural god Saturn. It was a time when social order was overturned. For example, according to some sources, the slaves were served food by their masters. Role-playing was implicit in the Saturnalia’s status reversals, and there are hints of mask-wearing. The Kalends always featured a masquerade that involved dressing up in costume, including masks, and traveling about either in public procession in bigger cities or going door to door, particularly at night:

The days are now coming, the days that mark the new year are coming, and the demons arrive with all their pomp (tota daemonum pompa procedit), a fully- fledged workshop of idols is set up. And the new year is consecrated with age-old sacrilege. They fashion Saturn, they make Jupiter, they form Hercules, they exhibit Diana with her young servants, they lead Vulcan around roaring out tales of his obscenities, and there are even more, whose names must be left unmentioned, since they are hideous monsters.
Peter Chrysologus, c. 380 – c. 450

Papal sources from the 13th century condemned such ‘theatrical performances’ and acts involving ‘monstrous masks’ representing animals. Throughout medieval Europe, rites involving masks, and the efforts of the church to eradicate them, were common.

‘For what wise man can believe that men are found to be of sound mind, if they are willing to make themselves a small stag (cervulum facientes) or to be changed into the condition of wild beasts? Some are clothed in the skins of sheep, and others take the heads of wild beasts, rejoicing and exulting if they have transformed themselves into the appearance of animals in such a way that they do not seem to be men.’
Caesarius of Arles

However, these bans affected mainly the cities, while the countryside remained mostly unaffected. As a result, many traditional masks in the Slovenian countryside (and elsewhere) have been preserved over the centuries, such as the kurenti in the area around Ptuj, the lavfarji in Cerkno, the škoromati in the Brkini area, ta lepi (Beautiful Ones) and ta grdi (Ugly Ones) in Magozd, Jezerca in Drežniške Ravne. The most famous of these is definitely the kurent.

Kurent

Kurent, also called Korent, is the most famous Slovenian carnival character. With his hopping and rutting he chases away winter and evil from the land, and ushers in the warmth and light of spring. He is also associated with fertility and abundance, and brings good luck and prosperity to those who honor him. Kurent originates in the area around Ptuj and Dravsko Polje on the left bank of the Drava river, but is also present in Haloze and Slovenske gorice on the right bank. The Drava River is not only a geographical divide between the left and the right bank, it also influenced the development of the Kurent as a carnival character. On the left bank of the river, feathered Kurenti (pernati kurent) are known, and on the right bank horned Kurenti (rogati kurent).

A Kurent wears a costume called kurentija, made of sheepskin, with cow bells attached to his waist and a terrifying face mask. According to folklore, there must be five cow bells to get the right melody. A long red tongue sticks out of his mouth, and the face mask has two cow horns or two thin sticks, which are connected to each other and decorated with colorful ribbons or feathers (this is also how the two different types of Kurent differ: rogati or a horned Kurent wears cow horns and pernati or a feathered Kurent has sticks with feathers). A Kurent wears leggings, which are most commonly red, but sometimes green. In his hand he carries a ježevka, a thick wooden stick, the end of which is wrapped in prickly hedgehog skin.

Of course, kurentija has changed over the years. In the past, kurentija was made from materials found on the farm. Also, in the past only adult men were Kurenti and they made their costumes themselves. They worked in the evenings and in secret, so that nobody would know who they were. That is why the Kurent was not allowed to reveal himself in public, but only at home, in the house. It was a tradition that each woman would tie her handkerchief to the stick of the most beautiful Kurent and so whoever collected the most handkerchiefs was the most famous and enjoyed the greatest reputation.

The first known depiction of plowmen and a kurent from Ptujsko polje, 1880 (Jurij Šubic : Die Österreichisch-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild, 1890).

There are many theories about how the Kurenti came about. According to one, he is the successor of the Old Slavic deity of fertility; it is possible that the old Slavs brought the Kurent with them when they settled in the area of modern day Slovenia in the 6th century, or they found the Kurent among the natives (Illyrians and Celts). It is also possible that he is a legacy of the Roman Poetovius (modern day Ptuj). There seems to be a consensus that Kurent is of Indo-European or Eurasian origin. Some scholars have noted similarities between the Kurent and St. Nicholas' hooved-companion Parkelj or Krampus. According to Aleš Gačnik the Kurent can trace its origins to the ancient Roman festivals Saturnalia and January Kalends:

‘Tako kot pri kurentu lahko tudi pri številnih drugih likih ugotovimo, da se je njihova pojavnost prenesla iz sredozimskega obdobja, zlasti iz saturnalij (od 17. do 24. decembra) in januarskih kalend, ob novem letu v obdobje pusta. S tem so številni liki, ki jih lahko povezujemo z demoni vegetacije in plodnosti, postali pustne mask.’
‘With the Kurent as with many other characters we can see that they stem from mid-winter celebration masquerades, especially from the Saturnalia (from December 17 to 24) and the January Kalends that lasted from New Year’s to the period of Lent. With time many characters associated with demons of vegetation and fertility became carnival masks."

Aleš Gačnik in DEDIŠČINA KURENTA V KULTURI EVROPE

The first written mention of Kurent (korant) dates to 1829 and appeared in the chronicle of the church of St. Marko in Markovci, whereas the first illustration of Kurent dates to 1880 and is due to Jurij Šubic. In the 20th century many traditions started disappearing, including Kurent, but then Franc Marolt and Franjo Žižek organized a folklore festival in Maribor in 1939 and put Kurent in the foreground. A few decades later, Drago Hasl organized the first official Kurentovanje on February 27, 1960 with the same goal of preserving countryside carnival customs.

In December 2017, UNESCO inscribed the ‘Door-to- door rounds of Kurent’ to the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Carnival Food

Carnival has always been considered the time of year when it is necessary to eat! Carnival food has to be as greasy, fried and sugary as possible.

In the past pork as a sign of prosperity and luck was always served on the Thursday before Lent (Fat Thursday). Some traditional dishes included smoked lower jaw and ričet (thick stew with barley) with pig’s snout . Another common dish was a potica with smoked pork and millet filling (also called Štula).

These days the carnival season is mostly associated with fried desserts like krofi or doughnuts, krhki flancati or kroštole and fritole or miške. Another popular dish is also ocvirkovka or špehovka, potica with a pork crackling filling.

Children have always been the biggest fans of the carnival and of krofi. In Slovenia they dress up as maškare and go from house to house (like for Halloween in the US) and ask ‘Imate kaj za pusta hrusta?’ The literal translation of the phrase is ‘Do you have something for crunchy carnival?’ and is the Slovenian equivalent of ‘Trick or treat!’ They often receive candy or krofi from each house.

Slovenski ljudski običaj: Pustovanje

A Short History of Carnival Customs and Their Social Function

How Slovenia’s monsters came back from the dead

KURENT DANES – V ŠEGAH, SLOVSTVENI FOLKLORI IN UMETNOSTI

Popular Culture in the Ancient World

Pasta and Beans (Pašta fažol)

Kroštole