BABUGERIOnce a year, in the heart of winter, all the Babugeri gather in one place to celebrate an ancient tradition. That place is the Kukeri Festival in the town of Simitli. Every second weekend of January, groups from all over southwestern Bulgaria arrive, filling the town with sound, movement, and color. Hundreds of masked figures line up, dancing impatiently as they wait for their moment to enter the arena of the local football stadium.The Babugeri are part of Bulgaria’s rich masked heritage. Their costumes are entirely handmade, created from the skins of a local breed of long-haired goats. Making a single costume is a labor of patience and devotion. A male goat needs four to five years to grow its hair to full length, and up to seven or eight goats are needed for just one outfit. Each skin carries heavy, dreadlock-like hair, which after tanning is untangled by hand, strand by strand, using a single needle. It is a year-round effort to keep the tradition alive.When a costume is finally finished, it can be worth a fortune. The longer the hair, the higher the value. The most impressive Babugeri costumes, with hair over a meter long, can cost between 20,000 and 30,000 euros.Traditionally, Babugeri groups roam towns and villages around the New Year, dancing to chase away evil spirits from the old year and to bring health, luck, and prosperity for the year to come.