Kukeri - Some hairy souvenirs

I've been to Bulgaria a few times, and as with any holiday I've brought back a souvenir. I have a fridge covered in magnets, a drawer full of t-shirts and a cupboard with some mugs that I've since discovered weren't dishwasher safe. 

One year I even brought back something alive ... a parasite from a dodgy piece of chicken that made the days after my return an adventure in fluid loss. But I've never found anything as good as these. The Kuker, or in plural, Kukeri, are the best souvenirs ever. Ever. 

First, some history. Here's the text from the back of the card on the one above ...

In Bulgaria, during the New Year's Eve celebrations, special rituals called Mummer's Games take place. They are performed only by men dressed in special masks, which look like a ram, a goat or a bull. The Mummer's Games are an echo of the famous Dionysus orgies, where the shaman, dressed as the wine god Dionysus, hid his human face behind an animal mask, covered his body with animal furs, and led the devotees, dancing under the calming rhythm of drums and bells, as the Ancient Greek tragadian Euripides (484-406 B.C.) describes it:

Dionysus, who with thyrsi,

Covered with the fur of goats,

In the forests of Parnassus,

Dances Capering.

The purpose of the Mummer's games is to frighten and eternally wipe out the evil spirits in order to acieve a rich harvest the following year, through special magical dances, fearsome masks, and the strong sound of the copper and bronze bells. The magical influence is attributed to the sound of the bells, which drives away all that is evil.

So there you go.

'Kuker' (pronounced Cooker, and for years I thought that was the spelling too - hence not being able to find any on Google) seems to be translated on the back of this card as 'Mummer' which for all I might know might be correct, but I'll go with what I know them as.

Since I first clapped eyes on one in a shop in Sofia and almost fell over laughing I've actively sought them out on every visit and have amassed a whole five of them, which I present here, in no particular order.

Let's start with the only mildly practical one as this beauty is also a bell. These ones are fairly common, at least in the tourist shops in Bansko and Borovets and come in various sizes but they look like they may be the only truly mass produced ones as for a few devastating years these were the only examples of the genre I could find.  

Next up, a close up of the one at the top of the page. I found this in Bansko in 2011, and was so happy as it was the first variation on the bell version that I'd seen for a while. It's completely flat but does come with a tiny broom as an accessory.

Here's a true action figure, as long as you don't care about practicality, articulation or a proper face.

Standing about four inches high, this one is fantastic. It's bells work, it has horns, and eyes that seem to have been made by stabbing a pencil into it's head. My dog loves this beyond words and would spend a whole day just sniffing it if he could, but I never leave him alone with it (you'll find out why in a moment)

Next up is almost my favourite, spotted in a shop in Borovets and at first I wasn't sure it was a Kuker. I questioned the shopkeeper who didn't have the best grasp of English (and to be honest why should she, she's a Bulgarian, living and working in Bulgaria and it's me, as a visitor, who should be trying to communicate in her tongue) but she thought about it for ages and attempted to convey something to me but was lost in a world of translation difficulties and confusion. After a shruggy silence I eventually said , "A kuker?" and she looked like she'd won the lottery. "DA! Kuker!"

So, it's not furry, has no bells, and looks like a pink blob attacked by a gifted yet disturbed child, but I love it 'cos it makes me smile every time I look at it.

And onto the last one for now. This was the one I saw in a shop and couldn't move for laughing. I called someone over to look at it, who to be fair did giggle a bit, but then tried to guide me out. I had to stop them, and once I got my breath back and handed them a pile of lev, explain to them that they had to buy it for me. They refused point blank, so I bit every part of the inside of my mouth and took it to the counter. 


The stern looking woman in the Sofia gift shop looked like she was thinking about smiling, but I think she was just bemused that a tourist was actually parting with money for this thing. A thing with a flat face, a smile of white beans, fur and bits of a craft kit that had been spilled down a sofa and found years later. I hung it by the door and loved passing it every day ...

... then one day when I was out, it fell off the wall, and the dog got it.

It was spread over a number of rooms, and the little shit still had bits of fur in his teeth as he sat there, looked enormously pleased with himself. I think I gathered most of it all up, the important parts at least, and one day will put it all together again, but for now it lives in a bag on the to-do pile.


Stay tuned, as I'll be back out to Bulgaria soon, and when not snowboarding, sleeping, eating or drinking, I'll be on the hunt for more of these, and I'll let you know as soon as I get a good 'un.