In this part of rural Romania, for some unknown reason, it’s traditional to dress up in real bear skins and dance through the streets to ward off evil spirits and provide good luck for the year ahead. The ancient tradition (named dansul ursului – or simply bear dance) is said to have roots that date back to the ancient Roman times.

In particular businesses and wealthy families pay these dancing troupes to come and dance for them. These dances take place throughout the entire winter but are much more common between Christmas and New Years Eve. Often extremely cold during these months, we were faced with extremely warm temperatures. I was told that it wasn’t many years ago they faced -20 celsius, this year it stayed above zero for almost the entire week.

The thing about these dances is that they can be unpredictable. There is no schedule as such, no designated route for most days, in fact, information, in general, is sparse. The reason is that they just seem to happen. A business owner may phone the troupe leader and ask for 20 bears to come and dance for them. They will agree a time (and a price per bear) and that’s that, the performance happens.

Other times troupes simply travel around a village banging their drums, hoping to be invited into someone’s garden for a private performance in exchange for a small amount of cash. The troupe can spend hours visiting many different houses in several different villages. This had the potential to make things difficult for a visiting photographer.

At the end of December in the small rural town of Comănești, there is a competition between the local troupes, where over 200 bears takes turns to dance on stage and are judged by the local mayor and his team. The competition is fierce and preparation of the skins can be time-consuming. Almost the entire outfit is made from a real bear, including the teeth. The only parts that are not genuine are the eyes and the tongue. The eyes are the same as you may find on a teddy bear, while the tongues are crafted out of wood and painted red.

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