Leading the bear

It enjoyed brief popularity in the entire Slavic region,[1] the practice still takes place in the areas of Upper Silesia, especially in the Opole Voivodeship.

Another variation of the outfit was a set consisting of a sheepskin coat turned with the hair on top and a fur hat on the head.

[2] The typical composition of the retinue is: a young couple, a chimney sweep, a doctor, a forester, a devil, a priest, a chemist, a gypsy girl, a camel (camel), a policeman, a butcher, musicians (accordion, drum), bridesmaids and groomsmen, a thief, a newsboy.

He supposes that this custom dates back to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, when in Silesia you could still meet bears, sometimes wreaking havoc in peasant farms.

[1] In Russia and Ukraine, during New Year's Eve, processions with a dressed-up bear and a goat pass through the villages.