Among the best-known kukeri are those at Siroka Laka (near Smoljan). This is one of the most spectacular of Bulgaria’s village festivals, celebrated primarily in the Rhodopes, Rila and Pirin, on the Monday of the last week in February. On that day, youngsters in aniumal skins disguised by zoomorphic masks (the kukeri) dance through the villages, driving out evil spirits likely to jeopardise the harvest with the aid of huge cow bells strapped to them.