Kurentovanje

11 day carnival event in Slovenia
the last carnival

Kurentovanje is Slovenia's most popular and ethnologically significant carnival event first organised in 1960 by Drago Hasl and his associates from cultural and educational organizations. This 11 day rite of spring and fertility highlight event is celebrated on Shrove Sunday in Ptuj, the oldest documented city in the region, and draws around 100,000 participants in total each year. In 2016 proclaimed as the 7th largest carnival in the world by Lonely Planet. Its main figure, known as Kurent or Korent, has been popularly (but incorrectly) reinterpreted as an extravagant god of unrestrained pleasure and hedonism in early Slavic customs. In 2010, the 50th anniversary of the first organized instance of this festival was celebrated. In 2017 Door to door rounds of Kurents was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The idea of an organized carnival event in Ptuj came about in the 1950s, when the carnival costumes, accompanied by a band, spontaneously formed processions on Shrove Tuesday. This event continued to grow, thanks in no small part to Ptuj cultural historian Drago Hasl (1900–1976). Hasl, an indefatigable organiser of Kurentovanje from its beginnings until the 1970s, was strongly convinced that this event could help prevent what he saw as the extremely rapid disappearance of carnival habits and traditional customs in surrounding villages. In 1959, Hasl, strongly backed by those who shared both his views and enthusiasm for the event, proposed that the Historical Society of Ptuj take over the organisation and the implementation of the carnival event. He suggested that the event should be named after the most well known costumes Kurent – and Kurentovanje was born. Hasl prepared a draft regarding the content and outlining the major guidelines to be followed to transform Kurentovanje into an event of ethnographic significance. His vision of an event comprising the unique carnival figures and habits from the Ptuj region, which could be joined at a later stage by other traditional Slovene costumes, helped to make the event grow into a festival of costumes. He additionally planned to expand the content of the event by introducing contemporary carnival costumes.

Kurent or Korant is the best known traditional carnival figure of the entire region, as well as in all of Slovenia. The name is probably derived from the common noun kurant 'messenger, lackey, footman', borrowed from a Romance word from Latin currens 'running'—thus sharing a semantic base with the Cerkno term lavfar. A wooden club is normally carried in the left hand.

SinceEventAlways on the same day2001Kurent (Korant) JumpMidnight ritual by the fire at  Zoki's homestead in Budina  (Candlemas – 2 to 3 February)

SinceEventsAlways on the same day↓ Ethnic and carnival parades ↓1998Opening Ethnic Processionpre Shrove Saturday  2020Day of Kurent (Korant) Groups pre Shrove Wednesday  2015A Night SpectacleShrove Friday  1873 (Already in 1873 first City Carnival Promenade was held at Ptuj. It returned permanently in 2013. )City Carnival PromenadeShrove Saturday  20131960International Carnival ParadeShrove Sunday  Slovenian Kindergartens ParadeShrove Monday  Burial ShroveShrove Tuesday

Cleveland, Ohio, United States has one of the largest Slovenian American communities outside of Europe. Centered around St. Vitus Church, the St. Clair–Superior neighborhood began hosting a local version of Kurentovanje in the 2013. The celebration is conducted on the Saturday prior to Ash Wednesday.