From Candlemas to Ash Wednesday – and throughout the year
The Kurent is Slovenia's most recognisable carnival figure and represents the living heritage, identity, and life energy of Ptuj Field. Its rounds are inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, making the Kurent one of the most important ambassadors of Slovenian culture in the world.
Traditionally, the Kurent's period begins on Candlemas (February 2nd) and lasts until Ash Wednesday. With its bells, dance, and rounds, it heralds the arrival of spring, awakens nature, and brings luck, fertility, and a good harvest. However, its mission extends beyond the carnival season – the Kurent carries a message of connection, optimism, community, and life energy throughout the year.
The Experience of the Kurent's Mission
Tourist product The mission of Kurent Visitors can gain a comprehensive understanding of the world of the Kurent and the carnival heritage of the Ptuj plain, Drava plain, Haloze, and Slovenske gorice. The Union of Kurent Associations, through its activities, ensures the preservation of the Kurent's mission, the transfer of knowledge between generations, the protection of ethnographic heritage, and the promotion of the Kurent as one of Slovenia's most recognizable symbols and UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage.
Guests can discover through interesting exhibitions and visits:
Continuous throughout the year
Kurent's mission is not limited to the time of Kurentovanje. The product allows visitors to experience Kurent in all seasons:
Spring
– understanding the meaning of the Kurent as a bringer of the new life cycle;
Summer
– workshops for making Kurent attributes and meetings with masters;
Autumn
– the interpretation of ethnographic heritage, photographic collections and stories about life in days gone by;
Winter
– the highlight of the experience with Kurentovanje, kurent processions, ethnographic groups, culinary delights and Shrovetide customs.
Kurent – ambassador of the Ptuj Plain
Today, the Kurent is a symbol of joy, vitality, and cultural identity. Its mission connects people, places, and generations, allowing visitors insight into the most authentic stories of Europe's intangible heritage.
Kurent's mission – from Candlemas to Ash Wednesday, from tradition to a modern experience, all year round.
Become a Kurent – from the initial desire to your first procession
Being a Kurent means much more than simply donning a traditional costume. It is an honour, a responsibility and a sense of belonging to a community that has, for centuries, preserved one of Slovenia’s most important ethnographic heritages.
Many visitors, lovers of tradition and young custodians of this heritage hope to one day become Kurenti and form their own kurentija. But the path to the first procession requires time, knowledge and careful preparation.
Within the product The mission of Kurent Visitors can learn about the entire process of creating a Kurent costume: the selection and ordering of the fur coat, the making or purchase of the mask, the selection of bells and belts, the preparation of the hedgehog headdress, the significance of the individual symbols of the Kurent tradition, the various types of Kurents and their distinctive features, the customs, rules and etiquette of the processions, …
As making a complete Kurent costume is a time-consuming process, it is important that all the elements are ordered and prepared in good time. Makers of Kurent costumes often have long waiting lists, so future Kurenti prepare for their first Kurentovanje several months or even a year in advance.
Visitors can meet the masters of kurent craft, watch individual elements being made and gain an insight into a heritage that has been passed down from generation to generation.
Becoming a Kurent means becoming a bearer of UNESCO’s living heritage and an ambassador for the cultural identity of the Ptuj Plain. Anyone who carries the spirit of the Kurent within them looks forward to the bonfire and the traditional Kurent leap, which marks the symbolic start of the Kurent festival and heralds the period when the Kurents once again take on their mission as bringers of spring, fertility and good fortune. With the lighting of the fire, the ringing of bells and the Kurents’ first appearance, the time for processions, socialising and the preservation of one of Slovenia’s most precious ethnographic heritages begins.
From the Kurent's leap to Ash Wednesday, the Kurenti visit homes, villages and towns, chasing away winter and heralding the arrival of a new life cycle.
