The carnival on the Opatija Riviera has begun! The event that traditionally marks the beginning of the carnival period is the hanging of the Pust –a carnival puppet that is blamed for everything that went wrong in the previous year – on a street pole. In Opatija, the Pustis hung on Tuesday 17 January in front of the market hall, which marks the beginning of one month of carnival festivities and masked balls in the town and its surroundings. The Children’s Carnival Parade, a traditional parade on Opatija’s main street, this year takes place on Sunday 5 February starting at 10 a.m. Opatija also boasts a very special carnival event: Balinjerada, a race of vehicles that run on ball-bearings instead of wheels. This is an event where fantasy becomes reality: the participants in this unique race spare no efforts to create imaginative, original vehicles that run on ball-bearings. The Balinjeradatakes place on Sunday 12 February on Opatija’s main street in the morning. After that follows the traditional carnival parade in the neighbouring town of Lovran.
The nearby city of Rijeka is organising the 29th International Rijeka Carnival under the motto “Be what you want to be”. The Rijeka Carnival has been listed among Europe’s 500 most important events, and the British magazine Sunday Times has included it among 24 most exotic events in the world. The International Carnival Parade takes place on the town’s central promenade, the Korzo, on Sunday 19 February. The parade includes participation of numerous carnival groups from Croatia and abroad, which all together turn Rijeka into a true Mecca for all lovers of carnival festivities. Rijeka also has its Carnival Queen who, together with the Master of the Carnival, takes over the keys of the town for the duration of the carnival.
A typical mask of this region are the Zvončari bell-ringers, men dressed in sheepskin wearing animal masks and colourful flowers on their heads, carrying axes in their hands and making incredible noise with huge bells that they carry around their waists. The Zvončarimake a truly frightening appearance, but that is their goal –to chase away winter and all life’s adversities, to summon the spring – the awakening of nature, and to make place for good, positive events in our lives. The most famous Zvončariare those from the Kastav area and surrounding places in the hinterland of Opatija, who pass this tradition on their children – the small Zvončariare raised from an early age indeed!
In any case, in the next month Opatija and surroundings villages will be living for the carnival: if you are a fan of carnival balls and parties, we recommend visiting the Masked Campus in the nearby small town of Matulji. The party in the big tent will continue until early morning hours… The carnival ends with the burning of the Pust on 22 February in Mošćenička Draga – a ritual that symbolises eliminating all the problems that troubled us in the last year.
Here is the complete calendar of carnival events:
17/01 Raising of the carnival flag
Opatija Market Hall
05/02 16th Children’s Carnival Parade, Opatija
Carnival parade on the main street of Opatija
10/02 3rd Masked Marathon with Klape singing groups
Hotel Imperial’s Golden Hall at 8 p.m.
11/02 4th Opatijska pusna girandola, Opatija
Carnival parade on the main street of Opatija
12/02 29th Balinjerada, Opatija
Race of vehicles that run on ball-bearings on the main street of Opatija
12/02 Carnival parade, Lovran
main street, after noon
17-19/02 International Carnival Cup 2012, Opatija
Regatta, Opatija’s harbour
18/02 18th Zvončari (Bell-Ringers) Festival, Matulji
19/02 29th International Rijeka Carnival, Rijeka
Carnival parade on the central promenade, the Korzo
22/02 Burning of the Pust, Mošćenička Draga
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