KOTOR CARNIVAL (Winter Carnival and International Summer Carnival) is held twice a year. Winter Carnival is organized in the last week of February, and International Summer Carnival during the first week of August. This kind of celebration in Kotor is called FEŠTANJE (from the word FESTA that means party in Italian). Kotor Winter Carnival has an old tradition, over 400 years old. This is how Kotor has always celebrated the arrival of a new spring. The winter carnival is slightly less grand than the summer one, which is international and brings together domestic and numerous carnival groups from abroad. (From Serbia, Croatia, Italy and Macedonia).
The carnival caravan runs through the main road, across the Kotor Riva, where visitors greet them. The best carnival group wins a monetary prize. The summer carnival is held at night and winter in the afternoon, until sunset. The “carnival trial” takes place in the main town square, where a large mascot is placed and processed at the main stage, for all the bad things that happened in Kotor in the previous year.
Of course, no one knows who the mascot is, but often it can be assumed. Sometimes it may be the president of the municipality, the president of the state or a mascot can also represent the corruption. No one is ever sure who the mascot is referring to. After the trial, this mascot is burned by the sea, so that all bad goes away with it. On the day of the winter carnival, only once during the year, local newspapers "Karampana" and "Čakulona" are sold in the streets of the old town, where you can read various news that happened in the city, mockery and “dirty” stories and again no one is sure who the newspapers are referring to.
Somehow, all the "important" city faces end up in "Karampani" or "Cakuloni", which does not save words when it comes to mocking these persons. After the carnival is “burned down”, the party continues in the old town until the early hours in the morning, with music and drinks at local cafes. Often the small city of Kotor is reminiscent of the famous Carnival of Venice. During the Carnival days, it is possible to buy various masks and covers at the main Kotor market, and everyone who wants to be a part of the carnival is welcome.
Author of the text:
Marijana Niković licensed tourist guide for Montenegro.
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