Organized by the NGO Feral Society, the Budva Carnival was held yesterday, for the third year in a row after an 80-year hiatus.
Although the event was accompanied by unfavorable weather conditions and heavy rain, the program was fully implemented according to plan. The carnival procession with the carnival went around the Old Town, after which the carnival trial began at around 1:30 p.m. in the church of Santa Maria in Punta.
This year's satirical play was performed based on a script by Mim Dotur Karazić, directed and produced by Milo Mick Karazić, while the roles were played by Milica Majkić, Mića Jovanović, Božo Zuber and Vukan Pejović.
The trial opened with an address by the judge, who reminded that Budva had been "gathering for the third year" to renew the custom of judging the carnival, according to the customs of the Budva statute, emphasizing that the Carnival symbolically "embodies all the misfortunes, problems and evils that have befallen the city."
This year's accused is presented as a Trojan centaur - a three-headed horse, with three heads that personify the politician (leader/ringleader), the urban planner/"architect" and culture. In keeping with the tradition of the Budva Pokladas, it is not a character that is being condemned, but a phenomenon - corruption, "concrete metastasis" and the ebb and flow of culture with the tide of kitsch.
“A special dramatic line of the trial was the introduction of the Spirit of the City (Genius loci), who appears on stage exhausted, with suitcases, ready to leave Budva, with the message that 'the living are powerless to resist the plagues' and that therefore the time has come for 'the dead to judge the living'. In this way, as the script predicts, a phantasmagoric jury was formed, consisting of famous historical figures and great people associated with Budva and its development: Cadmus and Harmonia, a Roman, a Byzantine, Emperor Dušan, the Doge of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, Don Krsto Ivanović, Napoleon, Count Zanović, Franja Josif, Don Antun Kojović, Regent Aleksandar, Ita Rina, Milo Milunović, Tomo Luketić and his wife Stana, Tito and Draža,” the organizers state.
The messages from the "jury" highlighted, as they state, the idea of Budva as a city of culture, trade and a safe harbor, with a reminder of the heritage of the ramparts, theater, cuisine and carnival, but also a sharp contrast to the contemporary moment - construction without measure, loss of space and identity, and the replacement of the spirit of the city with a "concrete shell".
"The satire repeatedly emphasized the absurdity of modern 'progress', including a parody of megalomaniacal projects such as the imagined 'Basilica Sky Tower', with the message that everything is 'rising into the sky', while the essential needs of the city are being neglected. At the end of the trial, the judge pronounced a verdict in which, with a warning that the departure of the city's spirit would mean the loss of identity and future, it was decided that the two heads of the three-headed 'centaur-carnival' – a politician and an urban planner – should be condemned and burned, while the third head, culture, was given a 'last chance': it was sent to isolation on Školj, to find redemption through catharsis and reexamination and 'appear before the court again' the following year. After the trial, the carnival procession burned the carnival on Brijeg od Budva, which symbolically concluded the ritual part of the event. Due to unfavorable weather conditions, the final festivities continued in the Mogren catering facility, with traditional pašticada and music by the klapa Stari kapetan," the organizers point out.
This event is also part of the program by which the NGO Feral Society celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2026. The anniversary will be celebrated through a series of cultural events and manifestations, including the seventh edition of the Jazz Festival "Tribute to Mimo Mitrović" planned for May, while the Mediterranean event Srdelada has been announced for November.
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