Bulgaria’s Surva Folk Feast marks the New Year Bulgaria's Surva folk feast, a masquerade ritual dating back to pagan times, is held in dozens of villages in the western Pernik region on 13 and 14 January to celebrate the New Year according to the Julian calendar. Locals don scary masks and costumes with large bells and gather around bonfires believing the frightening masks and the din of the bells will chase away evil spirits. Since 2015, the Surva folk feast has been inscribed on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES