- Comanesti, a small industrial town in northeastern Romania, attracts tourists from all over the world during the winter holiday season.
- The annual Dancing Bear Festival in Comanesti is based on a millennia-old tradition in the Moldavian region and includes participants dressed in bearskins.
- The festival begins before Christmas and culminates with a finale on December 30th.
A small industrial town in northeastern Romania may seem like an unlikely tourist destination, but Comanesti is where legions of tourists from as far away as Japan choose to spend part of their winter holiday season. .
They gather here to watch an annual event born of thousands of years of tradition in the Moldavian region. Crowds of people of all ages, dressed in bearskins, line up in rows of big jaws, marching and dancing to the deafening beat of drums. nail.
The Dancing Bear Festival, as it has become known, begins a few days before Christmas and ends with a spectacular finale in Comanesti on December 30th. Some of the “bears” jokingly growl or tease their attacks on the audience.
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The bear skins worn by the dancers weigh up to 110 pounds and are passed down from generation to generation. Puck is careful to follow the methods they use to keep their fur in good condition and ready to wear next year.
Amalia, 16, a member of the Sipotenic bear troupe, poses for a portrait in Comanesti on December 27, 2023. Amalia was 4 years old when she wore her first bear fur costume. She said she loves the team atmosphere of the Bear Pack, and she feels it's important that the centuries-old tradition stays alive. (AP Photo/Andrea Alexandre)
One of the more established groups is the Sipoteni Bear Pack, named after the Comanesti district where founder Costel Daskal was born. We have a maximum of 120 members, some of whom started participating as young as 3 years old.
“My children, Amalia and David, are already joining us,” Daskal said. He first danced as a bear at the age of eight, when Romania was still under a communist dictatorship. He recalled that at the time, bears only visited people's homes during Christmas, and it was a more modest sight.
Local residents say the custom dates back to pre-Christian times, when it was believed that wild animals would protect people from misfortune and danger. Therefore, dancing bears visited people's houses and knocked on their doors to wish them good luck and happiness in the new year.
While posing for portraits, members of the Sipoteni Bear Pack told The Associated Press some of the reasons they continue the ritual.
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Preserving tradition was a recurring theme. But for some herd members, the adrenaline rush comes from wearing animal fur, dancing to the rhythm of tribal drums, and interacting with other youth in real life rather than online. There is. Many said they felt like they were temporarily embodying the spirit of the bear.
“I feel liberated. Bears free our souls,” said Maria, one of the participants. She joined the Sipoteni Bear Pack when she was 5 years old and is now 22 years old. “It's also connected to her late father, who introduced me to this tradition” 17 years ago. ”
The region has lost much of its population since the 1990s, when many left for work in Western Europe after the fall of communism, but residents are glad that their traditions have survived.
Marian, 35, returns from abroad every year to dance with the group she has been a part of since she was six years old.
“I hope our children will continue this unique custom forever,” she said. “I can imagine quitting something, but I'll never quit this.”
