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NIKOLAY SIVKOV: It should be said to George Hindirakis’ credit - the artistic organizer of the event in the Municipality of Heraklion - that he has managed to gather almost the entire range of carnival traditions of the Aegean region. Unfortunately, due to rainy weather on the day of the carnival mummers from Boyanovo didn’t have the opportunity to perform the ritual in full. However their high colourful embroidered masks with plenty of mirrors on them, their folk costumes "of olden times", their wooden swords (kalachi) wrapped with red snakes sparked applause among the residents of Heraklion. With the rumble of their copper bells the mummers merged with the other participants in the Festival Parade – the "araps" from Greek Macedonia and became part of an overall Balkan motley carnival tradition. In fact, this was the purpose of the visit of the group from eastern Bulgaria - to show that there are no state boundaries for the ancient tradition of the winter-spring male masquerade games in the Balkans, be it in southern Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, even in Romania and that it continues to live and be celebrated by Balkan peoples beyond any borders – across united Europe.
No matter how different they are in terms of appearance, attributes, and probably in their rituals, they do not differ essentially: they are played at the same time – from Epiphany (Voditsi) to Midwives' Day (Babinden) and the aim of their rites and rituals is the same - to send away evil from the earth, to awaken the living forces of nature. Of course, this sacred order is typical for winter and spring holidays preceding Easter in Greece and other countries in Europe and unites them as a common festival tradition so widespread today. One mountain town – Pernik – has not been chosen by chance for the capital of festival cities in Europe this year. The festival tradition in the city has semicentennial history and the 20^th Festival of Masquerade Games took place there in late January.

QUESTION: It was interesting to see in Heraklion - a city with centuries-old history under Venetian domination – the syncretism between urban masquerade parade, influenced by the Italian cultural tradition, and "rural" masquerades of the Balkans. After the gorge of the guests from Northern Greece and Bulgaria there followed the pandemonium of modern "carnivalists" disguised as "Desperate Housewives", cannibalistic tribes with bones stuck in their kinky hair, female vamps in retro models of Volkswagen, letkis of penguins etc. The mummers’ hoods of tradition were followed by peaked sombreros and dominoes of the modern masked ball.... Which "constants" of ancient rituals for prosperity and fertility do you find in them?

NIKOLAY SIVKOV: If "аraps" and "mummers" were representatives of traditional "rural carnival" then local masquerade groups were from European urban carnival type, which most likely is related to the Venetian period in the history of the city and the living link with traditional culture of medieval Europe. We spent a little time on Crete to see if that other carnival culture – the "rural" one – has been preserved in the interior of the island, among the shepherds and herds to make the parallel with ancient masquerade traditions in other parts of the Balkan universe. However, getting acquainted with the history and culture of Crete, we can make some comparisons and find similarities between the Cretan traditions and customs and those of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. The first thing in common again is the time of the holiday. In Heraklion and in the village of Boyanovo, Bulgaria, where the mummer group comes from, this custom is celebrated on the same day – on Sunday, Meat Lent. This holiday is celebrated in all mainland and island Greece on that very day.

QUESTION: The most obvious parallel observed is the custom presented by the mummers from Yambol in which we saw characters disguised as "oxen" and "ploughman" and the custom from the village of Gergeri on Crete, in which there were also two men yoked followed by a ploughman and a plough.

NIKOLAY SIVKOV: The mummer holiday includes rituals of cosmogonic nature such as the symbolic plough and the sieve rolling on the square with which "hadji" - the king of mummers, sows the ploughed furrow. This custom of the sacred plough is presented on Bulgarian Christmas ritual bread with the image of a plough or a ploughman with a plough - an image of the heaven Ploughman Orion. In Mycenaean texts the constellation Orion is known as Axe (labrys). One of the symbols of the Great Mother Goddess of Crete is the labrys – doubleheaded ritual ax. The same ax (labrys) as a symbol of Orion is found in Thrace and Scythia. In other places, in Greece and Macedonia, the act of sacred ploughing has developed in the phallic cult, and beams and kalachi have phallic sense for Thracian mummers. Orion is multifaceted, but as a symbol of strength fertilizing Nature (the Great Mother Goddess), he is the same in the minds of all Balkan peoples.

QUESTION: Crete is the place of birth of one of the oldest civilizations on the European continent – the Minoan civilization. The island is located at crossroads and naturally combines elements of Eastern and Western rites. Which ones would you highlight?