BUSÓJÁRÁS Unesco Heritage Folklore Carnival in Mohács

The Busó carnival belongs to the group of festivities present also in the mythology of other nations, celebrating the end of winter and the beginning of spring, providing magical protection and fertility through ancient rites. The Busó festivities bear similarities not only to the carnivals in Rio and Venice, but also to the traditions of indigenous peoples of African, although in Mohács the origin of the tradition is explained by the legend of scaring away the Turks. The Busó people who scared away the Turks According to the legend, the 300-year-old tradition of the Busó began at the time of the second battle of Mohács, when our tricky ancestors took refuge from the Turkish occupation on the so-called Mohács Island, which is actually the other side of the river Danube. They dressed in disguise and scary masks and returned across the river, raiding the superstitious Turks who panicked and fled the town as soon as they saw the masked men. Woolly shipskin cloaks, masks and rattlers The folk custom that was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is one of the biggest carnivals in Hungary and it is a major folklore event. The traditional elements of Busó festivities have remained unchanged: the adults say farewell to the rough season and celebrate the approaching spring by donning woolly sheepskin Busó cloaks, trousers filled with hay and decorated stockings as well as carved masks, and they equip themselves with the ritual paraphernalia characteristic of the event, with large loud rattlers, clapper bells.