About
Drežnica is what an average Earthling would call a village. Located bellow the mighty mountain Krn on the southern outskirts of the Julian Alps in Slovenia. An amazingly beautiful landscape is the main reason for visitors to climb (walking or driving) up the steep street for most part of the year. But every winter Drežnica carnival shades the nature and becomes the attraction number one.
They say that the Drežnica Carnival is a very old traditional Carnival of pagan origin.
The main event is happening on Shrove Saturday starting at midnight when the beginning of the Carnival is announced with a walk in the dark with a few torches and many loud cow bells. This and the rest of the Carnival is carried by a group of unmarried and of age boys. That used to be the case in many other carnival traditions around Slovenia, but it is now changing and becoming less one-sex oriented. Well, it is not changing in Drežnica. This group has only males from this village that are older than 18 years and are still unmarried.
Another traditional thing I need to tell you about Drežnica carnival, is that you won't see any of the masks out of this village. Many other traditional masks around Slovenia are joining city carnivals which are often combination of various different groups, but don't expect to see Drežnica there. This guys are not parading around but waiting for you to come. Which is most definitely more special.
After the midnight walk you better get home and get some sleep. The biggest thing will start in a few hours.
I joined the preparations which started before dawn. Dressing up, putting up make-up and maybe have a little bit of a home made herbal drink. Just in case, so nobody gets sick in this cold weather. Yes, winters are cold in Drežnica.
At daybreak the crowd gathers and the Carnival starts their march through the village. First is the chief of the carnival of that year, than the accordion player, followed by the so called Beautiful ones, doctor, Rezija guy, police, a few others and at the end are the Ugly ones. After a walk around the village they finish the walk on one side of the village and pose for a group picture.
After posing the Beautiful and the Ugly ones part. The beautiful start visiting houses, because the idea is to visit every house in the village to wish them good year and all the best by playing some music and dancing. They are given gifts by locals in form of treats and money in return.
The most amusing task for visitors is carried out by the Ugly ones. Dressed up with rams fur and horns and with face covered beneath the wooden masks, carved by the boys themselves, the Ugly ones look very scary. A few big, still loud, cow bells help too.They are the one running around, chasing children and sprinkling them with ashes. But not only children, girls are also their pray. When they are not running around, the Ugly ones and the rest of the masks have their own assignments to keep on entertaining visitors.
This lasts until lunch when the masks have a break. After lunch the Carnival starts again with another procession through the village, posing (on the other side of the village than in the morning) and again parting of the two groups. The Beautiful ones continue their visits, there are approximately 60 houses in a village that have to be visited, and the rest continue with their roll.
The web page is dedicated to this great carnival that I had a chance to be part of in 2015. With my camera I was literally following the masks all day around Drežnica. I was allowed to follow the Beautiful ones into a few houses, I went with them on a tractor to a house that is a bit further away from the village, I was running - from a safe distance - to take pictures of the Ugly ones sprinkling children with ashes and in the evening I was happy to join the villagers at the party.
On Sunday I was beat but incredibly content. Hvala, thank you Drežnica for having me there and also for keeping the traditions alive. For all of you who have made it to this page, here is my strong recommendation for visiting this particular carnival.
They say that the Drežnica Carnival is a very old traditional Carnival of pagan origin.
The main event is happening on Shrove Saturday starting at midnight when the beginning of the Carnival is announced with a walk in the dark with a few torches and many loud cow bells. This and the rest of the Carnival is carried by a group of unmarried and of age boys. That used to be the case in many other carnival traditions around Slovenia, but it is now changing and becoming less one-sex oriented. Well, it is not changing in Drežnica. This group has only males from this village that are older than 18 years and are still unmarried.
Another traditional thing I need to tell you about Drežnica carnival, is that you won't see any of the masks out of this village. Many other traditional masks around Slovenia are joining city carnivals which are often combination of various different groups, but don't expect to see Drežnica there. This guys are not parading around but waiting for you to come. Which is most definitely more special.
After the midnight walk you better get home and get some sleep. The biggest thing will start in a few hours.
I joined the preparations which started before dawn. Dressing up, putting up make-up and maybe have a little bit of a home made herbal drink. Just in case, so nobody gets sick in this cold weather. Yes, winters are cold in Drežnica.
At daybreak the crowd gathers and the Carnival starts their march through the village. First is the chief of the carnival of that year, than the accordion player, followed by the so called Beautiful ones, doctor, Rezija guy, police, a few others and at the end are the Ugly ones. After a walk around the village they finish the walk on one side of the village and pose for a group picture.
After posing the Beautiful and the Ugly ones part. The beautiful start visiting houses, because the idea is to visit every house in the village to wish them good year and all the best by playing some music and dancing. They are given gifts by locals in form of treats and money in return.
The most amusing task for visitors is carried out by the Ugly ones. Dressed up with rams fur and horns and with face covered beneath the wooden masks, carved by the boys themselves, the Ugly ones look very scary. A few big, still loud, cow bells help too.They are the one running around, chasing children and sprinkling them with ashes. But not only children, girls are also their pray. When they are not running around, the Ugly ones and the rest of the masks have their own assignments to keep on entertaining visitors.
This lasts until lunch when the masks have a break. After lunch the Carnival starts again with another procession through the village, posing (on the other side of the village than in the morning) and again parting of the two groups. The Beautiful ones continue their visits, there are approximately 60 houses in a village that have to be visited, and the rest continue with their roll.
The web page is dedicated to this great carnival that I had a chance to be part of in 2015. With my camera I was literally following the masks all day around Drežnica. I was allowed to follow the Beautiful ones into a few houses, I went with them on a tractor to a house that is a bit further away from the village, I was running - from a safe distance - to take pictures of the Ugly ones sprinkling children with ashes and in the evening I was happy to join the villagers at the party.
On Sunday I was beat but incredibly content. Hvala, thank you Drežnica for having me there and also for keeping the traditions alive. For all of you who have made it to this page, here is my strong recommendation for visiting this particular carnival.
