This year’s Carnival of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, took residents by surprise. Normally, there are a hundred carnival tableaux and over 2,500 masked participants.

Due to the pandemic, only three carnival sculptures – the Crying Planet Earth, wearing a face mask; the Cat, the town’s mascot, and the “National Operational Headquarters” – paraded this year.

However, unlike other years, when they were able to travel to almost all the neighbourhoods as opposed to just the downtown area.”

Rather than cancelling the parade due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the parade proceeded so that people could enjoy themselves during the stay-at-home period.

Many viewers dressed in colourful outfits, and enthusiastically participated in a contest to find the “Best Carnival Balcony.”

One of the Carnival hosts, seen communicating with masked participants on their balcony, was Dani Belev, a famous magician. The two-hour-long livestream was watched by over 90,000 people around the world.

Rosina Pencheva is a photographer based in Sofia, Bulgaria, focusing on documenting the arts and culture sector. She has covered cultural events and processes of national and international importance for two more “capitals” in the country – the self- titled world capital of humour and satire – the town of Gabrovo, and the European Capital of Culture: Plovdiv, 2019. View her portfolio here.

‘The Other Hundred Healers’ is an initiative by the non-profit organisation GIFT. The 240-page, full-colour, hardcover book can be purchased here at US$40 per copy for a minimum order of 20 copies.