CROATIAN INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE - A YEARLY CARNIVAL PROCESSION OF BELL RINGERS FROM KASTAV

A yearly carnival procession of Bell Ringers from Kastav

The Bell Ringers of Kastav Region were entered into the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2010. Kastav is a smaller territorial, historical, cultural and administrative region encompassing the hinterland of Opatija and today's municipalities Kastav, Matulji and Viškovo. The bell ringers are in costumes dressed or masked participants of carnival processions which take place in winter period until the last carnival day - a Tuesday before the Ash Wednesday. In the processions only men take part, wearing masks on their heads, dressed in white-blue t-shirts, white trousers and caped with sheep-skin with fur turned outside and fixed round the waist with the belt on which one to three tied bells hang. Moving in special and various ways which demand physical strength and endurance, they produce deafening noise with their bells, wherefrom the name for these carnival characters was derived: bell ringers. According to their look and way they move there are three types of bell ringers: bell ringers with zoomorphic mask and one big bell, bell ringers with flower masks on their heads and three bells and bell ringers with head masks made of paper tapes in various colours and with three bells. They have differently shaped and decorated wooden bats in their hands which they use in movement and dance. About ten groups of bell ringers in the Kastav Region have their traditional routes with the goal to pass through their own and neighbouring villages where they are welcomed with food and drink by their hosts. In these carnival customs of bell ringers evident is the old magical fertility ritual, preserved until our days, which still today has an important social function and meaning. The bell ringers’ processions imply various forms of social behaviour in connection with special relationships between the hosts and the bell ringers, preparation, serving and consuming of ritual food, dancing and giving toasts. Also, in history and in modern life the bell ringers play special cohesive roles within community but also in the whole Kastav Region. Tradition is passed down and kept alive by including children, future tradition bearers, into the bell ringers’ processions. Dr. sc. Tihana Petrović Leš