Бұлғар салт-дәстүрі: Күкерлер ғұрпы

Participants in Bulgarian tradition

Kukeri (; singular: kuker, кукер) are elaborately costumed Bulgarian men, who perform traditional rituals intended to scare away evil spirits. This Bulgarian tradition has been practiced since Thracian times and is of a Thracian origin. Unreliable source: date=May 2021Unreliable source: date=May 2021

Closely related traditions are found throughout the Balkans and Greece (including Romania and the Pontus). The costumes cover most of the body and include decorated wooden masks of animals (sometimes double faced) and large bells attached to the belt. Around New Year and before Lent, the Kukeri walk and dance through villages to scare away evil spirits with their costumes and the sound of their bells. They are also believed to provide a good harvest, health, and happiness to the village for the year ahead. The Kukeri traditionally visit people's houses at night so that "the sun would not catch them on the road." After parading around the village, they usually gather at the village square to dance wildly and amuse the people. Kukeri rituals vary by region, but remain largely the same in essence.

The custom is generally thought to be related to the Thracian Dionysos cult in the wider area of Thracia and similar rituals can also be found in much of the Balkans. The term could be derived from Proto Slavic kuka ("evil spirit") with the agentive suffix ařь (i. e. literally meaning a "chaser of evil spirits"), or from a pre Slavic divinity named Kuk. though the practice pre dates Roman rule by several centuries. The corresponding figure in Greek speaking Thrace is known as Kalogeros "rod carrier", also shortened to cuci, in former Yugoslavia known as didi, didici, in Bulgaria as kuker or babushar, as momogeros in Pontic Anatolia, in North Macedonia it is known as babari or mechkari. In Romania, this figure mostly appears together with a goat, known as capra, turca or brezaia.

Kukeri is a divinity personifying fecundity. Sometimes in Bulgaria and Serbia it is a plural divinity. In Bulgaria, a ritual spectacle of spring (a sort of carnival) takes place after a scenario of folk theatre, in which Kuker's role is interpreted by a man attired in a sheep or goat pelt, wearing a horned mask and girded with a large wooden phallus. During the ritual, various physiological acts are interpreted, including the sexual act, as a symbol of the god's sacred marriage, while the symbolical wife, appearing pregnant, mimes the pains of giving birth. This ritual inaugurates the labors of the fields (ploughing, sowing) and is carried out with the participation of numerous allegorical personages, among which is the Emperor and his entourage. Kukeri are featured in the music video for the song "Fish on", by the industrial metal band Lindemann, and in the film Toni Erdmann, directed by Maren Ade.