Each year, during the winter, residents of the Romanian town of Comanesti celebrate the New Year by throwing on bearskin suits and parading through the streets. Yup, real bear skins.
It’s known locally as Ursul, and it features troupes of enthusiasts, young and old, wearing full-body bear suits. This raucous celebration includes loud, pounding drums and piercing pan flutes as the bears make their way through the town.
These troupes visit the town each year between Christmas and New Years to ward off evil spirits and cleanse it for the coming year.
This unique tradition has roots with the local Romani gipsy people, who lived in the hills near the town. Every year they would put bear cubs on leashes and bring them into town, where the cubs would walk on the backs of the villagers as a way to alleviate back pain.
Over time and with evolving attitudes towards animal rights, the parade about became local Romanians dancing dressed as bears.
Bear costumes, complete with the bear head and large, grinning teeth, are decorated with two huge red tassels pinned to each shoulder. The bear tamers don red military-style costumes and wear studded belts around their waists and high leather boots.
On their heads, they wear beautifully adorned red velvet caps topped with a big red pompon. The musicians wear traditional folk attire, usually white with embroidered black motifs, and tie a red, yellow and blue ribbon as a belt.
Several characters wearing women’s clothing, including long pleated skirts and headscarves, accompany the troupe
Although the tradition has been declining in popularity in recent years as younger people move to larger cities, local cultural groups are doing their best to preserve the bear parade.
The Dance of the Bear sees men of all ages, and increasingly more women, dress in real bear skins and dance to the rhythm of pan flutes and drums, to ward off evil spirits and ring in the new year.
While this tradition is still observed in many villages, in cities and towns it usually takes the form of a parade that culminates in a major performance in the centre.
