January • Cultural Insight

Surva Festival

The mask of the Kukeri. In Bulgaria, thousands of people dress in terrifying goat-skin masks and copper bells to scare winter away. This lesson explores the power of folk horror aesthetics and how ancient agrarian communities used fear to cope with the unpredictability of nature.

Speaking Discussion

Why do we find scary costumes so entertaining during a festival?
Can a shared story (like scaring away winter) keep a community together for 500 years?
Is the winter in your life something you can scare away, or something you must endure?
Should these rituals be kept exactly as they were in the 1700s, or should they be modernised?
What is the most terrifying tradition you have ever seen?

Activity 1: The Mask Designer

The Task: You are building a kukeri mask. List 3 organic materials you would use and explain why each one would terrify a winter demon in 3 sentences.

Activity 2: Rapid Fire Debate

Is fear a better motivator than hope?

Key Vocabulary

Agrarian (Adj) Relating to cultivated land or the cultivation of land.
Endure (V) Suffer (something painful or difficult) patiently.
Aesthetics (N) A set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, especially in art.
Unpredictability (N) The quality of being unpredictable.
Fertile (Adj) (Of soil or land) producing or capable of producing abundant vegetation or crops.

Fluency Catalyst

Native Phrase: When discussing impact, use: "To scare the living daylights out of someone."

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