COMANESTI, Romania (AP) — A small industrial town in northeast Romania may seem like an unlikely tourist destination, but Comanesti is where huge numbers of visitors from as far away as Japan choose to spend part of the winter holiday season.
They converge here to see an annual event that grew out of a millennia-old tradition in the Moldavia region: Bearskin-clad people of all ages, organized in packs, marching and dancing to the deafening sound of drums in several rows of gaping jaws and claws.
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The Dancing Bear Festival, as it is now known, begins a few days before Christmas and ends with a stunning finale in Comanesti on December 30. Some of the “bears” growl jokingly or mock an attack on onlookers.
The bear skins worn by the dancers, which can weigh up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds), are passed down from generation to generation. Herds conscientiously guard the methods they use to keep the skins in good condition and fit for use the following year.
One of the most consolidated pieces of equipment is the Sipoteni Bear Pack, named after a community in Comanesti, where its founder, Costel Dascalu, was born. It has as many as 120 members, some of whom started participating at age 3.
“My children, Amalia and David, are already in the pack,” said Dascalu, who first danced dressed as a bear when Romania was still a communist dictatorship. At the time, he recalls, it was a much more discreet view. , and the “bears” only visit personal homes at Christmas.
Locals say the custom dates to before Christianity, when it was believed that wild animals guarded people from misfortune and danger. Dancing bears, therefore, went to people’s homes and knocked on their doors for luck and a happy new year.
While having their picture taken, members of Sipoteni’s herd shared with The Associated Press some of the reasons they were making sure the ritual continued.
Preserving culture was a recurring theme, but some members of the pack reported feeling a rush of adrenaline while dressing in animal skins, dancing to tribal drums, and socializing with other young people in real life rather than online. . Many reported that they felt as if they simply embodied the spirit of a bear.
“I feel liberated, the bear frees our souls,” said one participant, Maria, who joined Sipoteni’s bear pack when she was five years old and is now 22. “I also get attached to my late father, who brought me to the tradition. 17 years ago.
Locals are pleased that this culture continues, as the region lost much of its population starting in the 1990s, when many other people left in search of paintings in Western Europe after the fall of communism.
A 35-year-old, Marian, returns every year from abroad to dance with the pack she has belonged to since age 6.
“I hope our young people will continue this unique tradition forever,” he said. “I can believe in quitting anything, but I will never quit. “
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