The Balkan tradition Koleda night, whose theme is to scare, was held in Kırklareli, Turkey. Songs, anecdotes, proverbs, and jokes were included in the coles accompanied by various folklore elements. Participants in the event first painted their faces, and put masks on their faces and white sheets on their shoulders. The group then made a variety of scary noises as they marched. They frightened the citizens by going to the doors of some people’s houses and workplaces. Although Koleda has a thousand-year-old Balkan tradition, this year the event was held for the fifth time.
The mayor who organized the event, Çölgeçen, said, ‘We are cooking our pumpkins tonight, we are boiling our corn. This is a tradition that our grandfathers have celebrated for a thousand years in the Balkans. It is an activity to expand our children’s minds and dreams with fairy tales and stories.’. Also, one of the participants said ‘ our aim is to scare away evil spirits. We try to do different make-ups every year. We try to be more scary every year in an effort to scare away evil spirits.’.
Do you think this tradition should be more popular in the world?
