Blackened faces, covered with sheepskin, wearing chequered shirts, black trousers, thick white woollen socks and heavy work shoes. On their heads they wear a skull dressed with sheepskin, around their necks black scarves. Parading through the villages, ringing they form a circle as though taking us back to our roots. The whole of Grobnik resounds.

The most famous patrollers of the carnival magic in Croatia lead us into the 2020 Neighbourhood Festival – the bell-ringers!

Grobnik’s Dondolaši and their European guests, various bell-ringer groups from all over Europe, gather and socialise during a three-day review and various programmes.

The bell-ringers (zvončari) are an original tradition and living culture of Kvarner, the last guardians of the strongholds of rebellion.

Alongside the Bell-ringer’s Review which gathers together groups of bell-ringers from the whole of Europe and the masquerade event on Platak, the formal premiere of the Bell-ringer’s Symphony and the start of the Neighbourhood Festivals on 9th February 2020 also presents a, as yet unseen, blend of music, rhythms and sounds of the Grobnik Dondolaši.

From the European neighbourhood the bell-ringer review is led by the Vorstandschaft des Klausen and Bärbele Verein from Immenstad, Germany.