Were you scared when you saw me? Brilliant! A busó mask couldn’t receive a bigger compliment than that. What? You’ve never heard of me! Then I'd better tell you, my story. Let's start with the busójárás [busó walking] winter festival. This is a traditional Hungarian event that is held annually in the city of Mohács at the end of the carnival period. One of the goals of the week-long party is to have fun. The other is to scare off winter, so on the last day of the fun, on Shrove Tuesday, a coffin symbolizing winter is thrown onto a pyre and burned. Will this bring spring? What do I know? I'm no weather forecaster... I have something completely different to occupy myself with during this particular week: intimidation. It's not by chance that this whole thing is called a busó winter festival, because busó masks are the engines of the fun: people dress up in white pants, sheepskin and special footwear, whose unnerving appearance I am the crown of. The purpose of a good busó mask is to create fun for everyone. Do you see my grin, my fur, my horns? None of this is accidental! Serious mask master craftsmen work to carve out these masks from mainly willow wood to this very day. Unfortunately, willow is not a very durable tree, so our ancestors could not tell us our full story. What is certain is that the busó festival was a thing back at the end of the 18th century. Legend has it that the many people living here got fed up with the Turkish occupation of Mohács and one night, wearing frightening masks and making a terrible din, they attacked the Turks, who were so frightened by the demonic-looking figures that they immediately fled. I don't know if any of that is true, but I'm sure I'm still being worn, and the noisy clappers are stil being twirled. The value of the busó festival was even recognized by UNESCO as cultural heritage, and in 2012 it was also included among the list of Hungarian Heritage.