site.btaThousands of Mummers Parade in Blagoevgrad’s Streets as Part of Masquerade Games Festival

Thousands of mummers paraded in the central streets of Blagoevgrad on Sunday during the Masquerade Games in Pirinsko festival. Participating were eleven masquerade groups from across the municipality as well as guest groups from the region.

In addition to the parade, each of the masquerade groups presented a typical Bulgarian ritual before the large audience in the city’s Georgi Izmirliev Square. The mummers wore scary costumes to ward off evil. There were also some dressed as characters related to the events in the last 12 months, with the FIFA World Cup being among the most popular topics.

The groups included people of various ages, including babies. The biggest group - that of Blagoevgrad’s Third Neighbourhood - had over 500 members. It dates back to the 1960s, BTA learned from Dessislava Damyanova, an heir of the group’s founder. She said that her son and her granddaughters are members as well.