Samobor Carnival (in Croatian Samoborski fašnik) is one of the biggest carnivals organized on Shrove Tuesday in Croatia.
The carnival tradition in Croatia is strong, as it has been well organized for ages in different parts of Croatia. Amongst the best known carnivals are certainly the celebrations in Rijeka and some much smaller, but still worth noting, like on Lastovo Island.
In the part of the country around Zagreb, the town of Samobor is best known for their traditional Fašnik celebrations that have been organized for 192 years, and always seem to follow a well-established protocol. First, the carnival is opened and the Mayor fives the keys to the city to the temporary ruler, Princ Fašnik (Carnival Prince), who will rule the town for the next 10 or so days. Then, after those ten days, during the final Fašnik celebration (which will be held this Tuesday, 13th of February in Samobor, starting at 6 pm) his luck will take a turn, as he will be blamed for everything bad that has happened in Samobor, Croatia and the world since last Fašnik, and burnt in effigy as the final bit of partying before the sombre Lent begins. “The Trial” during which he will be sentenced for all his wrong-doings is usually a very merry event, humorous but usually steering clear and not crossing the line (like we have seen in some other Croatian “celebrations” this year).
Everyone is expected to wear masks, as that is basically what the Fašnik celebrations in Croatia are, huge costume parties, and there will be multitude of organized group showing off their elaborate disguises they’ve prepared for the celebration. In Croatia there’s one other thing that’s traditional for Fašnik, and that’s eating “krafne”, donut-type sweet, filled with different types of jam, so if this seems like fun to you (and it should), visit Samobor tomorrow for a snow-decorated costume party, krafne, Tony Cetinski concert and almost certainly a good time! The people of Samobor say that “the crazy ones party every day, and the smart ones party only on Fašnik”, so be smart – go to Samobor tomorrow!
