site.btaSurva International Masquerade Games Festival Resumes, with a Vengeance

After three cancellations, this year will see a record number of participants in the Surva International Festival of Masquerade Games. The 29th edition of the event is scheduled to be held in the western city of Pernik between January 27 and 29, the municipal administration said Monday.

Nearly 10,000 participants from Bulgaria and abroad have registered to take part in the fest hosted by what has been the European capital of Surva's and Mumers since 2009. A total of 118 Bulgarian groups have registered, including 45 from Pernik region alone, as well as 18 groups from abroad. 

The festivities will begin two weeks before that with celebrations of the Surva custom, beginning in the evening on January 13 and continuing well after midnight on January 14. The custom is part of the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and is kept nearly everywhere in the region.

The traditional youth Survakiad will also be held, with 25 participating groups.

Pernik has been holding the festival ever since 1966. In 1985 the festival gained international-event status. In 1995 the International Federation of Carnival Cities accepted the town of Pernik as its full member and in June 2009 Pernik was proclaimed as the European capital of Surva's and Mumers.

The previous three editions of the Surva festival were cancelled over the water crisis in Pernik in 2020 and the COVID pandemic in 2021 and 2022.