CARNIVAL IN VINODOL

Bribir – Grižane – Tribalj – Drivenik

Carnival, masquerades, mesopust, šentencija, sentenca, dances, tea parties… all these terms associate us with the craziest time of the year.

The time that most of us inhabitants of the Vinodol valley and the littoral, eagerly await and live for, that time of joy and madness. When a person puts a mask on his face, he protects his inner self and frees himself from all restraints and shackles.

As soon as the New Year is over, followed by Epiphany, comes the time of mesopust, a folk ritual, days of joy, freedom, humour, pleasure, customs that have been revered in Vinodol since time immemorial.

Events with masks in each of our localities are unique and yet all similar in some way. Each of our localities has its own masked groups: in Drivenik they are called krabulje, in Tribalj and Grižane krabunosi and in Bribir there is the Bribir parade and the Kirci-Bribirci carnival association. All generations of these carnival groups have nurtured and are nurturing for decades and actively work to preserve these customs and traditions, “so that they don’t vanish”.

They greet each other in houses, sing Croatian patriotic songs, go to visit each other, organize carnival “dances”, mesopust “masses”, read the šentencija, sentence and at the end burn the mesopust, the culprit for everything bad that happened in the previous year.

And as the main event of all masquerade events in Vinodol is the Griški Krabunosi meeting, where numerous masked groups from Vinodol and other neighbouring towns, led by the krabunosi of Grižane, present their national heritage, driving away spirits and demons, defending people from all evils, driving away winter and summoning spring.