Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Five years ago the ancient pagan ritual Surova entered UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list

Photo: BGNES, archive

On this day in 2015, the Surova folk feast from the region of Pernik was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, the UNESCO website writes.

Surova is a ritual banishing evil forces to cleanse humans for a new life. The core of the celebration is a popular masquerade ritual performed in villages throughout the region. It takes place in January when colourful survakari masquerade groups pass through the streets to the sound of bells and bagpipes to celebrate creative human energy and the faith that the new year will be more bountiful and healthy.  



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

The "Bulgarian Berlin" website is gaining more and more popularity

The virtual space where you can find information about Bulgarian restaurants in Berlin, the services offered by Bulgarian craftsmen, as well as addresses and phone numbers of doctors working in the country, is the work of two Bulgarians who settled in..

published on 10/21/25 1:05 PM
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Natalia Rashkova

Research work by Bulgarian scholar traces new directions in ethnology

When a contribution in the sphere of science is transformed into the basis for subsequent in-depth research the boundaries between countries and continents seem to melt away – literally and figuratively. That is precisely what happened during a..

updated on 10/20/25 12:45 PM

Sofia hosts finals of “World’s Largest” Escape Room Championship

Sofia is hosting the finals of ER Champ 2025 — described by the organisers as the world’s largest international escape room competition .  Taking place on 19 and 20 October, the event will bring together twelve teams from around the globe , each of..

published on 10/19/25 8:26 AM