Bulgarian masked figures (Charles Fréger, courtesy of Yossi Milo Gallery, New York)
Photos by Charles Fréger of masked figures from various European festivals. from a gallery in Slate.
Positively inspirational.
See more Krampus videos here.
Wild Men of Europe
That photo is terrifying.
Of course it’s terrifying! It was meant to be terrifying! 🙂
The author of the article left out the masked revelers of Lithuania during Kaledos, and of the West African masked men during their harvest festivals in June.
As a friend recently commented: “Many of these are sympathetic magic. There are many examples of people dressing up to evoke the spirit of an animal, a person, a different time. Arguably, historical re-creation is under that umbrella, as is the dress-up in SF cons, and various fantasy role-playing games. I don’t know if they have a common social or ethnic origin, but they do have a common cause deep in the human psyche. “
*gasp* LOVE!