People dressed up in genuine bearskins and paraded through the streets of Comanesti and Racova in Romania to celebrate an old tradition marking the new year's rebirth.

Hundreds of people dressed up in genuine bearskins and paraded through the streets of Comanesti, in the eastern part of Romania, on Sunday, to celebrate an old tradition to mark the end of the year.

Dancers wore costumes made from bearskins, and decorated with hanging red tassels, grunting and swaying to the rhythm of drums and melodies of pan flutes.

"I've been doing the bear dance for four years, and for me it means a great deal," said a 17-year-old participant, Roxana Stan.

The girl noted that she'd got the costume from her father. "It is very heavy, but I've got used to it. I already can't feel its weight anymore," she added.

The tradition originated in pre-Christian times, when people wearing animal furs or coloured costumes went from house to house in villages, singing and dancing to perform a ritual warding off evil spirits.

According to a legend, if a bear enters somebody's house it will bring luck, health and welfare.