ChocalhARTE: Ritmos da História

Abstract

The history of a people refers us to its identity and its heritage is built on its cultural roots. This culture is represented/symbolised, equally, by history, by traditions, as well as by art and literature. In the Northeast Transmontano, the most characteristic festivities are the solstitial festivities, held in the twelve days from Advent to the Epiphany, among them, the Carnival or Entrudo, a cultural and ancestral tradition, where the masks and the carriers - Caretos -, are the protagonists. On these days, the Caretos become superior beings, diabolical and magical figures, who are allowed to do all kinds of nonsense, pranks and jokes. The Caretos are figures incarnated by the boys and men of the villages who, behind the masks, the characteristic fringed and coloured costumes and with the noisy rattles that they wear around their waists, assume the role of true enigmatic and demonic beings. It is these men and boys who, throughout time, guarantee the succession of these cultural manifestos of a people, an epoch, a region.