“LAUFARIJA” OF CERKNO
The “Laufarija” of Cerkno is a carnival custom which originates from pagan rituals and it preserved only in oral tradition.
The group has 25 characters and 26 masks (one character has two masks). Every “laufar” wears “larfa” – a mask which together with their clothes and behaviour presents a character which symbolises weaknesses of particular social class or local characters. Particular characters go back to pagan times and present the then religions in today’s era.
All “larfe”, except one, are carved out of linden tree wood. The clothes of separate characters are made especially for them, three “Laufar” characters get new clothes every year.
Every single year at the square in Cerkno Pust is sentenced to death by “bot” – a lumberjack mallet. Pust is guilty of everything bad and clumsy that happened nearby or slightly further away. The conviction of Pust is presented as a play in the dialect of Cerkno.