Маскарадът в Драмско
The Masquerade in the Region of Drama

Summary/Abstract: Basing herself on field studies in the villages of Kali Vrissi, Volak and Petrusa in Drama Region in Northern Greece, the author reviews the current state of the masquerade, which now takes place regularly between 6 and 8 of January. Banned after World War II and restored in the 1960s, the masquerade is today a part of the cultural heritage but also a living cultural practice whose elements (rituals, masks and verbal communication) have undergone remarkable changes through the years. Being a cultural construction that points to the past and unifies the heterogeneous population in this border region, every year the masquerade recreates the present and addresses day-to-day issues. Although different in each of the three settlements, the masquerade is a social phenomenon everywhere: from a traditional holiday it grew into an act of diachronic community presentation. At the same time the roles of those taking part in the masquerade are perceived by the local people not as a brief change of identity but as a special status.

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