The southern countries of Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal), the central and eastern Alps of Europe and many regions of central Europe are rich in folklore traditions dating back to pre-Christian (pagan) times, with surviving elements amalgamated from Germanic, Gaulish (Gallo-Roman), Slavic (Carantanian) and Raetian culture.Ancient customs survived in the rural parts of Austria, Switzerland, Bavaria, Slovenia, western Croatia, Italy, southern Germany, Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain (between other territories and countries along Europe) in the form of dance, art, processions, rituals and games. The high regional diversity is a result of the mutual isolation of Alpine communities and rural countries. In these areas (mountains, rural isolated areas), the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and paganism has been an ambivalent one. While some customs survived only in the remote valleys, mountains or rural plains inaccessible to the church's influence, other customs were actively assimilated over the centuries.The winter masquerades constitute an anthropological custom traced back to the Continent’s ancient cultural traditions. We’re referring to a cultural manifestation with origin in pre-Christian religious rituals, many directly related to the adoration of Mother Nature, changing of seasons and annual renewal that arouses with natural cycle of the winter solstice.Objective: To point out to the European citizens the existence of a common cultural tradition with a thousand-year-old origin.Secondary objectives: To promote knowledge and union between territories that share the same ancient tradition, to transfer the knowledge and exchange specific cultural elements of each territory and to promote the cultural cooperation and intercultural dialogue based on thousand-year old traditions common to the entire continental realm.