Romania's new year bear dancers – Alecsandra Raluca Drăgoi's best photograph

'Boys and men put on heavy bear costumes, often made of real fur, and make their way to a stage - where a Gypsy with a knife cuts them open to let a demon out'

The Bucovina and Moldova regions in the north-east of Romania are rich in traditions and ancient customs. Lots of towns and villages host winter festivals and parades; one of the biggest is the Festivalul de Datini ETMi Obiceiuri StrAfmoETMeETMti (the festival of customs and ancestors' customs) in ComAfneETMti on 30 December. Different groups come from miles around to participate, and it has become best known for its bear dancers: groups who process through the streets in bear costumes, often made from real animal furs, some as much as 50 years old.

The bear was a sacred animal in ancient Romania. It's thought that the tradition of dancing bears originated many centuries ago among the Roma who would visit villages just before New Year with real bears on leashes to dance and chase away bad spirits from the outgoing year. When the country was under communist rule, it was banned; bear dancing was made illegal in 1998; and, when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007, the last of the dancing bears were bought from their owners and "retired" to a bear reserve in the Rila mountains.