ROMANIA’S BEAR DANCE
The tradition known as Bear Dance which dates back from pre-Christian times is still alive in the rural communities of the Trotus Valley of Romania’s Western Moldavia region. Each year between Christmas and the New Year, hundreds of locals dressed in bearskins perform dances aiming to chase away the evil spirits. While this tradition is still observed in villages where the procession visits every household, in towns it usually takes the form of a parade on the central square, among which the major one takes place in Comanesti. The procession, which can include between six and 24 bears, would traditionally visit every household of the village, accompanied by up to three singing bear tamers, several characters wearing women’s clothes and drummers. The central act of the Bear Dance is death and resurrection of bears, symbolizing renewal, the end of the year and the beginning of the new one. The death and resurrection of the bear suggest its strong ability to overcome the harsh winter and herald the coming of spring. For Geto–Dacians, ancestors of present-day Romanians, the bear was a sacred animal with healing powers. The life cycle of the bear was responsible for regulating seasons, entering hibernation before winter and waking up in spring. A bear fur costume, regarded as a family trophy, weighs up to 40 kg for the adult size and cost up to two-thousand euros, with prices going up after the introduction of EU regulations controlling bear hunting.
Bear troupes perform on the stage in Comanesti, an industrial town in the valley of the Trotus River in the Eastern Carpathians. One by one, the troupes perform on the large stage set up in the central town square. Along with the bears, there are as well participants in other roles such as troupe leader, swordsman, drummer and various characters in zoomorphic costumes.
A procession of people dressed in bear costumes passes through the main street of Comanesti. The Comanesti parade, which attracts a large number of visitors every year, is the central event promoting the tradition of the bear dance.
The bear dance ritual is performed according to a predefined scenario, which has a certain symbolism and culminates in the act of "resurrection": one participant in a bear costume stands on a stick, which the other two then lift onto their shoulders. Having that said, it symbolizes renewal, the end of the old year and the beginning of the new.
After the official part of the event, people dressed in bear costumes continue dancing to the sound of drums into the evening hours. Bearskin costumes are extremely heavy to wear, both because they weigh about 50 kilograms and because they get extremely hot after several hours of walking.
After performing on a stage set up in central Comanesti, a troupe of bear dancers embarks the van that will take them to their village.
Next day, the event takes place in Darmanesti, a small town in Trotus Valley not far from Comanesti. Here, the local troupes start visiting households early in the morning
In the past, groups of between six and 24 people visited each rural household. Nowadays, most of troupes will make its way through the main streets of Darmanesti, followed with the sound of drums and firecrackers before heading to the stadium where the stage is located.
Bear skin costume is put aside after the ceremony is over. Although bear hunting has been officially banned in Romania since 2016, there are exceptions when it is allowed to hunt these animals: to control the population or to kill individuals that are dangerous to humans. According to official figures, more than 1,500 bears have been hunted in this way since the ban came into force, while some estimates suggest that the real number is much higher. As a result, bear game festivals are the target of criticism of certain animal welfare organizations.
Young men prepare for the start of the parade in Asau village. Bear skins are kept in the dark, protected from moisture, treated with special fur oils and substances to protect them against death-watch beetles and moths. The bear group from Asau is one of the most famous, while the old custom of a procession of masked locals, led by drummers, visiting each house and performing a dance is still practiced here.
Once everyone has put on their costumes, the troupe will start visiting village households. An essential detail of the bear costume is a pair of large red tassels, which are particularly effective when dancing and have an apotropaic function of warding off the evil eye.
Chosen for his leadership skills, the head tamer is the main choreographer and director of the ceremony. Despite concerns about the survival of the tradition, mainly due to the depopulation of this region, whose population is moving to larger cities and other EU countries, more and more young people have become interested in this custom in the last decade.
A troupe of bears enters Palintis, the last village in the valley of the Asau River, a tributary of the Trotus. Bear dance, which represents the continuity of ancient beliefs in the miraculous powers of these animals, is of great importance to the cultural identity of local communities.
