ZHERAVNA, Bulgaria -- With no cell phones in sight, tens of thousands of people danced through the night after the Zheravna festival reached its fire-circling crescendo on August 19.
The International Folk Costume Festival in Zheravna, a village in eastern Bulgaria, has been held every year since 2008 -- with strict conditions.
No cameras or cell phones are allowed to be used in the festival grounds, and entry is only permitted to people dressed in some form of traditional or historic clothing.
Despite -- or perhaps because of -- the stringent rules, the event has become one of the most popular summer festivals in the Balkans. Organizers say around 25,000 people took part this year, the highest participation in the festival’s history.
On a hill on the edge of the festival, Evgeni Chakarov says the event is “the most Bulgarian thing in Bulgaria.”
His uniform, pieced together over several years, cost him around $2,000, he says.
Chakarov is from the Bulgarian city of Varna, but wears a traditional Macedonian outfit because, he says, “It’s my favorite of all the national costumes.”
As well as restrictions on food and cameras, no plastic is allowed in the festival grounds.
Festival organizers say those hoping to attend must prepare for “total detachment from civilization for three days, and a return to the fundamental roots” of Bulgarian culture.
The event’s calendar featured a list of events held over three days this year from August 18-20, including contests for best uniforms and a display from Bulgaria’s fire-walking Nestinaris.
But the climax of the event was the lighting of a giant bonfire on August 19.
Thousands of people linked arms and danced traditional line dances until just after 10 p.m., when a somber torchlight procession paid tribute to those who had died for Bulgaria throughout history. The torches were then tossed, one by one, onto the bonfire.
Valentin Vasilev, who was inside the festival with his girlfriend, Lilyana Tvanova, told RFE/RL that the massive dance around the bonfire was “incredible. You only get this energy here, once a year.”
Linking arms with thousands of strangers during the firelight dance, Vasilev said, “felt like being part of a chain of energy that goes all the way back to our ancestors.”
