
As the world uses New Year's Eve as a time for celebration, excitement and reflection, in Romania it is custom for locals to mark it slightly differently – by dressing up as dancing bears to ward off evil spirits.

In a bizarre ritual every December between Christmas and New Year, Roma gypsies living in Comăneşti, 300km north of Bucharest, in Bacău County, an area known as the Trotus Valley put on real bear skins and parade through the streets.

The festival called Ursul - which is replicated across the country - originated from an ancient Indo-European tribe known as the Geto-Dacians, who believed bears were sacred.

Festive: Gypsies living in Romania celebrate New Year by dressing in bearskins and taking to the streets to ward off evil spirits. Here, Roma people living in Comăneşti, 300km north of Bucharest, in Bacău County, an area known as the Trotus Valley, are pictured at the ceremony

Tradition: At the locally named Ursul festival, Romany gypsies wear bear skins to ward off evil spirits from the year gone by and purge them from the area as is tradition. This scene in Comanesti, 300 kilometres north of Bucharest, is replicated across Romania

History: To Romany gypsies, bears are sacred creatures who will protect them from evil spirits as they are banished and the people living in the village can have a prosperous New Year

They and other tribes who lived in what is now Romania and Moldova - then known as Dacia – thought bears were the spirit of the forest and 'the supreme master of cosmic energy'.

According to Romanian mythology, the bear possesses the power to protect and heal.

Villagers would long ago cover a newborn baby with bear fat, to give him strength and luck.

And today they believe bear skins protect them from the spirits they are chasing out of the village.

Between Christmas and New Year communities across Romania come together and march as bears.

In the procession the 'bears' pretend to roll over and die before they are miraculously resurrected – symbolising the passing of winter and the re-birth of spring.

Custom: Romanian children dress up in bear skins to take part in a Christmas time festival which is said to bring their village good fortune by expelling evil spirits

Change: The 'Ursul' festival, as it is known locally, was once carried out with real bears but animal rights campaigners targeted gypsies for their 'crude' training regimes

Freezing! The Indo-European people known as the Geto-Dacians, who saw bears as sacred animals, are credited with starting the festival hundreds of years ago

Ceremony: During the procession, led by a band leader, the 'bears' pretend to roll over and die. They are 'miraculously' resurrected to signify the passing of the cold winter and the coming of spring

Spectacle: Gypsies parade through the town dressed as bears between Christmas and New Year to banish spirits from previous 12 months

Competitive: As well as the parade, villagers flock to the main square for a competition which judges the quality of their skin and dancing

Bizarre: In villages across Romania (pictured, the northern region near Moldova) locals put on street performances in bear costumes

Theatrical: Romanian's in bear costumes descend on a public square in the town of Vatra Dornei, where several people had gathered to take pictures of the 'dancing bears'

Congregation: Between Christmas and New Year communities across Romania come together and march as bears. This picture is from the town of Vatra Dornei

As well as the procession, a panel of judges mark their costumes according to the quality of their skins, their costumes, dancing and overall presentation.

The parade pays tribute to the decades gypsy custom where travellers would bring their bears who lived in the forests into towns, where they played music for tips, alcohol and cubes of pig fat.

When the bears got older their owners made them dance for money, while young cubs walked up and down on people's backs to cure them of aches and pains.

Some bears were even specially trained to give people massages using their feet.

But by the 1930s after the 1929 economic crisis hit and the social unrest, high unemployment and nationwide strikes that followed the tradition died out.

Procession: The parade pays tribute to a long-forgotten decades-old gypsy custom where travellers would bring their bears who lived in the forests on leads down into the towns to entertain people

Dressing up: A small Romanian child peeks out from behind the head of his bear skin, which also has a festive orange clamped in its jaws

Excitement: Two young boys play in the snow before the highly anticipated procession, dressed in their traditional bearskin outfits