The Cerkno laufarija, a carnival trial in wooden masks

Who the laufarji are

There are 25 characters in larfe, masks carved from limewood. The name supposedly comes from the German laufen, to run, because the ta terjasti, in suits made of weaving offcuts and carrying switches, keep running round the procession to clear the way and keep order. The Pust wears a mask with a huge nose, boar’s tusks and horns, a suit sewn with moss and holds a young spruce. Alongside him come ta smrekov, his brother, dressed in spruce twigs, the old woman, the lamant with his kidskin mask and pitchfork, the drunk man and woman, the gentleman and lady, the wild man and several more. Ta star, the old man, is the leader and the only one who speaks.

Shrove Tuesday: the mallet and the sentence

On Tuesday morning the bot, a woodcutter’s wooden mallet, is dug up. In the afternoon the procession returns to the square, the judge reads the indictment once more and sentences the Pust to death. Ta star hits him over the head with the bot and he’s carried off to an unknown place. It ends with a dance in which the laufarji take turns at the polka and rolling on the ground. It’s theatre, but it’s played with a seriousness that I find the best thing about it.

Calendar: from the first Sunday to Tuesday

The laufarija begins on the first Sunday after New Year, when the first laufar appears in the streets, and more come out every Sunday. Before carnival some of them go door to door round the nearby villages, collecting gifts and dancing with the women of the house in exchange for a good fat turnip. On Shrove Sunday they all march to the main square, where the imperial and royal carnival court reads the Pust his indictment in the old Cerkno dialect, and he’s locked up until Tuesday.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Cerkno before prices climb.

How to see the Cerkno carnival

The main days fall in February or early March, depending on the year, so it fits a winter trip; the guide to Slovenia in February helps you plan one. The 2027 dates had not been published on 19-10-2026. If masked carnivals are your thing, compare it with Kurentovanje in Ptuj, which is bigger and has a different spirit.

A tradition revived in 1956

Nobody knows when it began, although the masks may be linked to Cerkno’s 19th-century religious carving workshops. It stopped in 1914, because the war left no unmarried young men, was banned under Italian rule from 1918 to 1943, and Second World War bombing destroyed all the costumes. In 1956 Peter Brelih and the ethnologist Niko Kuret revived it with fourteen characters, working from what older people remembered, and in 2026 the 70th anniversary was marked with a special programme. Since 1992 it has been run by the Laufarija Cerkno association, which keeps the masks.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Cerkno and choose by the reviews.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Cerkno before prices climb.