A dancer with painted face performs a kukeri dance during the International Festival of the Masquerade Games in Pernik, near Sofia on January 28, 2023. The three-day festival, which started on January 27, has participants wearing multi-coloured masks, covered with beads, ribbons and woolen tassels while the main dancer, ladened with bells to drive away sickness and evil spirits, sways like a wheat spikelet heavy with grain. (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/AFP Photo)
