Kurentovanje
Kurentovanje is Slovenia's most popular and ethnologically significant carnival event first organised in 1960 by Drago Hasl and his associates from cultural and educational organizations. This 11-day rite of spring and fertility highlight event is celebrated on Shrove Sunday in Ptuj, the oldest documented city in the region, and draws around 100,000 participants in total each year. In 2016 proclaimed as the 7th largest carnival in the world by Lonely Planet.
| Kurentovanje | |
|---|---|
Korant or Kurent | |
| Also called | 5th season, Europe's greatest outdoor ethno carnival |
| Type | cultural |
| Significance | Celebration prior to fasting season of Lent. |
| Celebrations | Parades, parties, open-air performances |
| Begins | 11 days before Ash Wednesday (57 days before Easter) |
| Ends | Shrove Tuesday (47 days before Easter) |
| 2024 date | 3–13 February |
| 2025 date | 6–16 February |
| 2026 date | 19 February – 1 March |
| Frequency | annual |
| Related to | Carnival, Ash Wednesday, Lent |
Its main figure, known as Kurent or Korent, has been popularly (but incorrectly) reinterpreted as an extravagant god of unrestrained pleasure and hedonism in early Slavic customs. In today's festival, groups of kurents or kurenti wear traditional sheepskin garments while holding wooden clubs with hedgehog skins attached called ježevke, the noise of which is believed to "chase away winter". In this way, the presence of kurenti announces the end of winter and beginning of spring. Being a kurent was at first a privilege offered only to unmarried men, but today, married men, children and women are also invited to wear the outfit.
In 2010, the 50th anniversary of the first organized instance of this festival was celebrated. As the host of the festival, the town of Ptuj was admitted into the Federation of European Carnival Cities in 1991.
In 2017 Door-to-door rounds of Kurents was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.