Cleveland's 1st parade of the year

We were delayed. The city blocked off St. Clair early. A lot of parking spaces were snow covered, and some of the sidewalks were tamped down unto corrugated ice. The parade route was condensed. Better fotos are taken before a parade starts, when people are standing still, and are approachable. For many years, St. Patrick's parade was the first of the year. Since Kurentovanje has started up, it is the first. Lunar New Year would be about the same time, in Cleveland they have indoor activities; certainly the weather is a consideration.

Škoromati from Hrušica posing with Karma & Perun. These carnival characters are from nearer Italy. Scaramatte made appearances in 14C manuscripts. The Alps cross Slovenija and Italy. Perhaps these masks came from nearby Friuli (Furlanija), and became naturalised in southwest Slovenija. Venetians have carnival masks too, perhaps they are part of the same spread of phenomena.

Spearmen going about in circles, before they were marching double file. Not looking too martial.

Black plague doctor, Il Medico della Peste, from the modern Venetian carnival. 

Krampus, now this character is found in the north of Slovenija (Štajerska), and in neighboring Austrian Steiermark (Styria). Similar characters are in Bavaria, and elsewhere. But, they are active on the eve of St. Nicholas (6 December). But they are also anthropomorphic ethnological figures.

Whippersnapper

Kurenti with a young Kurent.

A red devil marches on.

also see past years click 

Kurentovanje begins Cleveland's festival year

headdresses of kurenti 

Kurenti are the stars of Pust (the pre-Lenten Carnival of the Slovenes). I think it was the Albertville Olympics of 1992, that Charles Kuralt introduced America to the Kurents. He said these were his people.

Kurent

A little Kurent happy to pose.

A musician that stands above the rest.

Chardon Polka Band was playing in a tent. I was not in a good spot to get good fotos. Parts of the tent were dark, others light. Some places were not safe to stand, when the tent is packed. People who polka, hop and bounce up. You must hop out of the way, to save your foot. The heads and arms in the air, block shots. A father holding his child high was a foto i wanted.

Assorted Krampuses and bishops enjoy Fasching, so they came for Pust.

Crosier goes up.

Princess of the festival

Hamlet would not have had such a device.

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Postscriptum: I have posted about this event in past years. Looking back to 2019, i had a post ready with fotos, but never got around to writing the copy, similar stuff.

Cleveland Carnival

 

Kurentovanje na Slovenski Narodni Dom v Clevelandu 2023

Perhaps, the oldest settled town in Slovenija is Ptuj. In 1960, a modern organised Shrovetide festival/carnival began, Kurentovanje. Cultural anthropologists suggest these characters are vestiges of pagan gods, turned into laughable and scary buffoonish demons [I wrote these words in 2013, after the first Kurentovanje in Cleveland]. I have been to several outdoor festivals, around greater Cleveland, and brought along a camera. I have posted a bunch of Kurentovanje posts. In 2020 the coronavirus hit America, and the world. That year the only festival i went to was Kurentovanje. I was preparing for the St. Patrick Parade, it was cancelled after the Arnold event in Columbus. There was fear in the air, and disease, and this fed the tinfoil idiots, and they have not stopped.

Northeast Ohio in December and January, especially close to Lake Erie is very, very grey. Three partially sunny days, in either month, is rare enough. The amount of snow, and degree of cold varies greatly. The Christian calendar is centered on the date of Paschal Sunday (Easter Day). Many other days move forward back, on the calendar. Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Pust is the day before Ash Wednesday (the first day of western Lent, the Orthodox have Clean Monday). These Tuesday celebrations end Carnival season. Some countries have Tuesday, and perhaps Monday and/or Thursday prior to Wednesday as public holidays. This is capitalist, Protestant, America; so these are working days. So, in Cleveland the Carnival season (Pustni čas) is on the Saturday before Lent; which was the 18th of February, this year.

a sheepskinned devil

pre-Lenten partying in Cleveland with a South German/Austrian Krampus mask

Polka is a fun, happy music. It is meant for dancing, but many songs can be played in polka time. Accordions are famous, and any number of instruments can be part of the ensemble. The tubist, Brian Brazier, was very spirited. Chardon Polka Band responded to a request, and began playing, "Grab your balls, we're going bowling". When "Grab your balls" was sung, up went the maracas.

A multi-instrumentalist, Mitch Lawrence, very few flautists are seen in polka bands.

one of the tribe of Kurenti

Apparently, they start out as babies. Who knew?

Kurentovanje

This year's Cleveland's Slovene pre-Lenten carnival parade began noon Saturday.

The launching and dressing area was in the new St. Martin of Porres High School. Their mascot is a lion.

Kozorog, the Slovene for Alpine ibex, is a national symbol.

A girl from St. Mary Slovenian school had a basket of krofi. Concerning ethnicity, or lack thereof, to-morrow a parish is scheduled to have a paczki Sunday, another donut Sunday, Slovenes have krofi.

Krampus is an Austrian demon figure that represents paganism in the Austrian Alps. The Carinthian region had been Slovene, and there is a mixed population.

This Saturday before Lent, the oldest Slovene neighborhood in Cleveland had a parade. Some well behaved dogs from he city kennel asked to be adopted. Here is 'Plinko':

In cartoons the little cute monster can be surprisingly dangerous.

A whippersnapper leads some Kurenti.

The Kurent is the mythological creature that chases away winter before Lent. This is the feathered variety, his head has wings. The red appendage is his tongue. 
click and see: 2013, 2014, 2014a, 2016, 2017, 2018,

6K'18

This sort of revelry had been done for centuries in Slovenija before Ash Wednesday, especially on the Tuesday prior. In Cleveland, it is the Saturday prior (this year the 10th of February). After World War II, a more pagan version was done up large in the oldest settlement in the nation, at Ptuj. People lived there before the Slavs came, before the Romans came, and further back. To promote Cleveland's oldest formerly Slovene neighbourhood, the idea was imported. [2014 click]

Not a good day. Freezing rain and damp almost foggy air. The parade route was reduced (it was scheduled to be shorter than other years), the parade was smaller, construction barricades interrupted, sidewalks were not shovelled, but the police were less visible. This is the third time i went, once the weather was too snowy and windy to get there. People with telephones were photo bombing everywhere, constantly five feet or so from subjects, and some made themselves tandem to the parade. I do not believe they were getting good pictures, but they were excelling in preventing others to get clear shots. It was difficult to frame a good shot. I used two cameras, and they would not always focus. I took way too many pictures, and mostly bad shots. A high percentage of fotos were deleted. 

After the parade i went inside the auditorium, went into the balcony, and had a good view of the dancers. One woman in particular, or her hands and her stinking phone, were in the majority of those fotos. Came home cold, wet, and in bad temper. The celebration follows a movable feast, so next year it is on the 3rd of March.

The entire time it was twenty-nine with freezing rain.

The parade began with Austrian St. Nicholas' Day characters, the bishop and the krampus devils. This is also a masquerade, people can come as other characters, often only a papier-mâché mask.
 
The Art Museum had a quartet of demon Afro-Caribbean demon cattle.

A kurent and two devils. Included in the duties of a kurent is to chase away winter. First the concept has to become familiar to an American audience. Not many neighbourhood residents come out to watch.

A Slovene folk dance troupe did two fine group dances.

Kurenti take to the street

Kurentovanje to-day on St. Clair.

They were not allowed on the street very long, the short parade allowed traffic one way. It was almost a quick march and the groups were close together, not too many spectators but one still could not catch up with the marchers for another fotoshot. The terminus was the Slovenian National Home which became packed, and the balcony was closed when the crowd came in. The balcony would be the best place to see the people dance, and to take fotos of the celebrating Kurenti.

The Pikachu and the dinosaur are not traditional. I think they were Chinese students from Cleveland  State who usually in Panda costume, and part of the dragon dance team. 

North of Slovenija is Austria. Krampus is also a pre-lenten folkloric character that developed from pagan times.

Kurents on Saint Clair

 Piast, a Polish dance troupe, marching before Kurenti

 Two Kurenti in the ballroom of the Slovenian Home, St. Clair Avenue Cleveland Ohio

Polka is fun, Chardon Polka Band on stage, hideous mirror ball suspended from ceiling

Cleveland had their fourth Kurentovanje on the last Saturday before Lent. The day began with a new route for the parade. The units were fewer in number and tightly jammed together. There was a goal to have only a short interruption of traffic on the avenue. The neighborhood is not booming, there is a movement to arrest the decline and add some cachet. This new festival is part of that. 

The Kurentovanje is a Slovene pre-Lenten folk carnival. Kurenti (plural), Kurent (singular) dress in sheepskins and a headdress of ribbons. They are there to chase away the winter.

I sometimes see annual events again, here is the parade two years ago [click].