Every year in January, the village of Vevcani celebrates Saint Vasijil's Day (anglicized as Saint Basil's Day) with a massive festival where the villagers dress in elaborate, strange, and terrifying costumes.

Without fail, the 1,400-year-old pagan festival draws tourists and the media to the village, located a little more than 100 miles from the Macedonian capital of Skopje.

Vevcani is a surprisingly well-known village despite its small size (pop: 2,500). In the late '80s, while Macedonia was still under communist rule, the government tried to redirect the village's springs to nearby Struga. Villagers set up barricades to prevent it and the government sent in special police to beat the village into submission. After weeks of conflict, the government gave up.

In 1991, shortly after Macedonia established its independence, the village declared itself an independent republic, going so far as to issue special red passports, creating its own coat of arms, and printing its own currency, the licnik. The town's independence is mostly in-name however. Their currency is a souvenir and both the town and the Macedonian government try to stay out each other's way.

Since, the village's independent character and provocative yearly festival has continued to raise the popularity of the town. In an area where most villages are destitute and poor, Vevcani continues to thrive.

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