“The Power of the Mask, or the Power-vested's Mask?” This was the topic of the scientific conference, held on January 27, 2006 in the Palace of Culture of Pernik town, near Sofia. The conference was part of the program of the XVI International Festival of Masquerade Games. The forum was organized by the Pernik Municipality, with the assistance of the Anthropology Department of the New Bulgarian University, the Folklore Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and the Hungarian Cultural Institute in Sofia. Eminent Bulgarian ethnologists, folklorists and specialists in culturology, who have had a huge scientific contribution to the researches in the field of the carnival traditions of the peoples in the Balkan region and Europe, took part in the conference.

The event was inaugurated by Pernik town Mayor Antoaneta Georgieva. Pernik Deputy District Governor Boryana Metodieva and Henry van der Kroon, President of the Federation of European Carnival Cities, also delivered salutatory speeches. This being done, Prof. D.Sc. Mihaly Hoppal of the Budapest Ethnology Institute read a report, entitled “The Mask of the Shamans”. Before he started reading, the professor drew the attention of the audience to the kinship ties between the Proto-Bulgarians and the Magyars.

Using many visual aids and materials, the distinguished Hungarian researcher summarized the results from his years-long studies of the customs and rites of many peoples in Siberia, the Altay region and central Asia. An interesting documentary showed that over the past ten or fifteen years the ethnologists, studying the customs of these peoples, had noted a very interesting trend – the revival of Shamanism in Eurasia.

One of the Shamans' major characteristics is that they serve as mediators between the past and the present and the mask is an inseparable part of their costume. However, there are many different interpretations as to what the exact purpose of the mask is. Prof. Hoppal quoted some explanations, given by shamans:

“In their rites and rituals, the shamans undertake spiritual journeys to the other world. They say these journeys are very dangerous and they put a mask on their face, so as not to be recognized by the evil spirits, who rule the other world. The shamans make these journeys to find and bring back to our world the obsessed soul of the ill person, who has come to seek their help. Thus, they believe, his health will come back to him together with his soul.”

Of all members of the community, the shaman is the one possessing the greatest power. And he has power namely because he has an opportunity to have a mask. Hence, we can assume with reasonable certainty that the man of power is very often compelled to wear a mask; because the mask is his chance for freedom; by wearing a mask, the shaman is sometimes free not to observe the rules. The mask gives its possessor an emotional balance and also gives him strength to face the unknown. And the one, who uses the mask, is well aware that other rules are in force when your face is well-shielded. While answering some questions, the Hungarian scholar gave a very interesting example with the curtained rear windows of the Chaika GAZ-13 limousines of the Communist political elite. The important thing is what is happening behind the curtain, behind the wall and behind the altar. In some societies, which follow a particular cultural model of thinking, the very essence of the power-vested is their being masked and hidden from the people.

This interesting topic steered the discussion to some complicated problems of the contemporary IT society. One of the problematic issues were the mass-media, showing a virtual reality, a masked world, which could be defined as the mask of realty. And yet another question arose: “Is this illusionary reality also a kind of mask?”

Professor Ivan Marazov, D.Sc. of the New Bulgarian University moved the focus of the discussion from the shaman's mask to the masks of the Thracian Kings. His report was entitled “The Golden Masks of the Thracians”, and inevitably mentioned the golden mask, discovered not long ago in the Malka Kosmatka tumulus. Although the tomb was dated to about fifty years after the death of the Thracian King, the mask was bravely called the Mask of Teres. The hypothesis that prevails in the case with this unique mask is that the Thracian beliefs might have been in some way linked to the Hellenistic ones. According to the funeral traditions of the Hellenes, the dead man has no face and this is why he should be buried with a mask, which would verify his identity.

Assoc. Prof. Vasil Garnizov of the New Bulgarian University presented his report “Populism as a Mask” and again focused the discussion on the topic about the power-vested. He laid an emphasis on a phenomenon in the Bulgarian political life, which had grown strong over the past few years, namely that in most cases there is often a wide discrepancy between what politicians say and what they do. And the electorate has become used to seeing the politicians as masked, although they appear before the people with open faces. This is also valid for each newly-promoted face on the political scene. The contemporary society is doomed to populism and sooner or later every politician falls into its trap. Public figures are often compelled to recur to populist strategies, not to say stratagems. And the politician also needs to wear a mask sometimes.

A few reports neared the forum discussion to the carnival aspect of the masquerade processions and customs. The carnival phenomenon, as an element of the urban culture of Medieval Europe, is relatively well-known. The carnivals usually last not more than a day, but during that day different social classes can swap places; sometimes this is done through parody, sometimes by other means. In its very origin, carnival is chaos, which is to be properly arranged, so that life could start anew. The carnival, however, has turned out to be an expedient tool for stripping the power vested of their masks and its correlation to power gives the carnival great vitality and makes it constantly enrich its color.

French scientist and researcher Dr. Annie Sidro, President of Carnaval sans Frontieres, presented a most interesting documentary about the Carnival in Nice. The Nice Carnival was first organized in the thirteenth century, but has already evolved in a multi-cultural event with lots of glamorous processions of the carnival heroes, and it spreads over two whole weeks.

Her presentation also raised the question about the unsuspected opportunities of cultural tourism. About ninety percent of the carnival's financing is provided by the Nice Municipality, but the investment payoff is great, because the tourist season in the city is also opened with the carnival. When the Persian Gulf War started, the carnival was canceled and this caused a forty percent loss in tourism.

Mrs. Annie Sidro, who visited Bulgaria for the first time, said she expected to see a group of sourvakars – young boys going from house to house wishing people a Happy New Year – from Pernik town at next year's Carnival in Nice. She also said the town of Pernik should try to make the most of the opportunities for cultural tourism, which the festival offers.