It's carnival season and the largest event in Slovenia each year is organized in the town of Ptuj.
Thousands of participants and tens of thousands of visitors celebrate the end of winter with some rather unusual carnival masks. Aljoša Milenković reports.
#Slovenia
Thousands of participants and tens of thousands of visitors celebrate the end of winter with some rather unusual carnival masks. Aljoša Milenković reports.
#Slovenia
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00:00The entire city of Ptuj has been looking forward to this for months and UNESCO had added it to its list of intangible cultural heritage.
00:10When the day comes, everything is about the kurentovanje. Even the country's president joins in.
00:17It's of great importance not only for the city of Ptuj but also for Slovenia because this event is now a UNESCO heritage
00:26and it means that a lot of people from abroad are coming to Slovenia
00:31and I'm really happy that Slovenia can show the beautiness of my country but also the cultural heritage.
00:38In total, there were 3,248 participants divided in 84 groups from 6 countries that paraded in this carnival.
00:48It took more than 3 hours for the entire parade to pass through the city center.
00:54The most interesting part for many is the traditional costumes from the Ptuj region called the kurents.
01:01These guys look very scary because their job is to chase away the winter and honestly just looking at them scares me as well.
01:16That traditional costume is made out of sheep's wool. It is heavy, it is hot underneath and wearing it requires significant strength.
01:27And as the carnival's prince explained, it's all part of a long tradition.
01:33This is our traditional mask. It is the symbol of kurentovanje.
01:38There are other traditional masks but the kurent is above all masks.
01:43The spectacle in various colors is a traditional way of announcing the arrival of spring and the revival of nature after the long, grey and gloomy winter months.
01:54On this day though, nature was kind and the sun made it even more colorful.
02:01Adoš Milenković, CGTN, Ptuj.