Fascinating, traditional, corresponding to torrid areas and events, provocatively open, magically imaginative, yet real and fantastic.
The Strumica carnival dates back to pagan times when the rituals celebrating the spring awakening of nature were performed.
Later in the Christian tradition it marked the beginning of the Easter Lent, based on the origin of the word in Italian carne levare (to remove the flesh) and the Latin expression carne vale which means ‘parting from the meat’.
Strumica lives for the Carnival. The masks are an individual choice, and the messages are personal, recognizable and erotic.
There is established parade route, where the participants walk and in the end they reach the city square, Goce Delchev, where they present themselves with special performance.
The jury decides about the monetary awards, which are then divided in categories and by the number of participants.
This event has the largest attendance with some 40,000 guests and over 3,000 masked participants from Macedonia and abroad.