There are 15 dance performances on the programme, and the festival will host the 41st Schneider Lajos National Folk Song Convention as well as the Regional German Folk Song Singing Competition.
Among the foreign guests at festival will be Serbia?s Orpheus Company, which will hold puppet performances for adults at the Szent János Hotel.
An exhibition of masks made especially for the Busó will be hosted in the workshop of the folk artist Antal Englert.
Concerts and crafts for children are also on the programme.
The Busó was inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009. UNESCO described the Busó as ?a general emblem of the city and a commemoration of the great events of its history?.
?The Busó festivities at Mohács in southern Hungary are a six-day carnival in late February to mark the end of winter, named for the busós, frightening-looking costumed people (traditionally men) wearing wooden masks and big woolly cloaks. The festival is multifaceted, including a children?s costume contest, a display of the art of mask carvers and other craftspeople, the arrival of more than 500 busós in rowboats on the Danube for a march through the city alongside horse-drawn or motorized fantasy vehicles, the burning of a coffin symbolizing winter on a bonfire in the central square, and feasts and music throughout the city. The tradition originated with the Croatian minority in Mohács, but today the busó is a general emblem of the city and a commemoration of the great events of its history. More than a social event, the carnival is an expression of belonging to a city, a social group and a nation. It plays an important social role by offering a chance for self-expression in a communal setting. The arts underlying the festivities are preserved by self-organized groups of busós of all cultural backgrounds, many of whom pass on the techniques of mask carving and ritual celebration to younger generations.?
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
