STA, 23 February 2019 - The 59th Kurentovanje, the biggest carnival in the country, started in Ptuj on Saturday with an early highlight, a procession of traditional local and foreign costumes. The festivities will last for eleven days and conclude with a symbolic burial on Shrove Tuesday.
After the Mayor of Ptuj Nuška Gajšek symbolically hands over control of the town to a new prince of the carnival, Ptuj turns into the goofiest and most joyful Slovenian town.
The show piece of the opening ceremony will be a performance by four UNESCO-protected carnival figures - the Slovenian Kurents, Bulgarian Survakari, and Croatian Zvončari and Buše - all of them scary, colourful and covered in sheep skin. The procession includes eleven foreign carnival groups from six countries.
The main event of the carnival is the international procession on Sunday, 3 March, which typically attracts the most visitors from Slovenia and abroad who come every year to admire Slovenian and foreign costumes, the most distinct one being the local Kurents.
Related: Old Photos – Pust in Ptuj, 1962
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