Traditional Ethnographic Characters

Jürek and Rabolj

Jürek from Haloze or Green George is the so-called plant and spring mask worn by a boy. The mask was well-known in our region until the end of the 19th century, and in the Haloze hills until the first quarter of the 20th century. Green George is a boy literally wrapped in green plants. The mask used to be very popular in Slovenia, and besides in our country it also appears in Croatia and in some other European countries. The ritual represents the victory of the spring goddess over winter. The ancient ritual was named after St. Jurij (St. George) as it used to take place on the saint’s day, on 23rd or 24th April.

Jürek from Haloze, as the group mask, was revived in the village of Dolena at the beginning of the 80’s of the last century. Such a group consists of Jurek, Rabolj, four to five dance pairs, musicians and a donation-collector. In a farm yard Jürek and Rabolj perform a fight in which the winter demon Rabolj is beaten and banished to Donačka gora. Such outcome is happily greeted by the rest of the solemnly dressed party; young men and women start dancing, singing and then they collect donations.