For the third year in a row, the Slovene Ethnographic Museum presents carnival characters whose masks and outfits the museum bought last year for its collection. This year, the carnival ploughmen from Okič (Haloze) will be presented at the temporary exhibition.

The Okič group of Shrovetide ploughmen began functioning as a society in 1993. They do their rounds around the villages of Cirkulane and Zgornji Leskovec, between Shrove Saturday and Shrove Tuesday. The group is most often made up of a ‘cracker’, a ‘hag’, one or two pairs of ‘nags’, a plougher, some kurenti and a musician. In the yard in front of the house, they plough a symbolic furrow and sow seeds for a good harvest, then the locals provide them with food, drink and gifts.

They are recognizable because of the kurent masks. While most other such masks are made from sheepskin, these are made of rabbit skins and of goatskins.

Exhibition author: mag. Adela Pukl
Professional collaborators: mag. Anja Jerin, Benjamin Vidovič