Kurentovanje

For thousands of years our ancestors felt the need to chase away winter in
the time of its climax. This tradition was kept alive in a couple of Slavic
countries, one of them being the Slovenian celebration called kurentovanje.
In modern times, the celebration takes place on the Sunday before Ash
Wednesday in the city of Ptuj, which is known as the oldest recorded town
in Slovenia. During the festival, groups of kurents or kurenti, which
originally consisted of young unmarried men, but in modern times are
comprised of whoever wants to participate, wear traditional thick long
sheepskin garments and a mask on their faces and horns or antlers decorated
with ribbons on their heads while holding wooden clubs with hedgehog skins
wrapped around 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.