The "Mascarados" (masked figures) in Lazarim
The "Mascarados" (masked figures) in Lazarim
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In Lazarim, in the municipality of Lamego, the Carnival cycle encompasses two periods. The first starts on the fifth Sunday before Fat Sunday, and the second takes place between Fat Sunday and Ash Wednesday. The various celebrations preceding the main Carnival festivity are held on successive Sundays.
The first Sunday pertains to friends, where the initial masked figures or persons wearing large sculpted heads walk through the town. During this week, the typical menu is enriched with a wide variety of meats, above all pork meat, that will be ritually served throughout this period, preceding the period of abstinence of Lent. The following Sunday pertains to female friends, and is succeeded by the Sunday of Compadres ("godfathers") and Sunday of Comadres ("godmothers"). During this period there is a marked opposition between the sexes, with demonstrations of authority, in an environment of permissiveness and folie. It is the subversion of the established order, which is characteristic of the carnival period, seeking a final equilibrium within the community.
Over the course of five weeks, the compadres prepare the large masked heads and the comadres raise funds in order to pay for the mannequins that will be sacrificed in a public bonfire on Shrove Tuesday - when one of the key events is reading of the carnival will, that involves unique traditions in Portugal. A girl reads the Compadre's will and a boy reads that of the Comadre. The text is divided into three sections: in the "beginning" the executors of the will are named, in the "bequeathances" section, a donkey is symbolically distributed between the heirs - Compadres and Comadres - and then there is a final reckoning, the "end" in which the Entrudo (Carnival doll) is burned.
The masks of Lazarim express a momentary division of the community. On the one hand, we see the Caretos (persons wearing large sculpted heads) and on the other hand the Senhorinhas, their female equivalent. Both roles however are performed by men, who are distinguished by their clothes and the caricatural betrayal of certain types of ridiculous situations that can be easily identified by everyone. In addition to the traditional masks sculpted in wood, the Careto also uses an anthropomorphic truncheon known as a "roberto".
The first Sunday pertains to friends, where the initial masked figures or persons wearing large sculpted heads walk through the town. During this week, the typical menu is enriched with a wide variety of meats, above all pork meat, that will be ritually served throughout this period, preceding the period of abstinence of Lent. The following Sunday pertains to female friends, and is succeeded by the Sunday of Compadres ("godfathers") and Sunday of Comadres ("godmothers"). During this period there is a marked opposition between the sexes, with demonstrations of authority, in an environment of permissiveness and folie. It is the subversion of the established order, which is characteristic of the carnival period, seeking a final equilibrium within the community.
Over the course of five weeks, the compadres prepare the large masked heads and the comadres raise funds in order to pay for the mannequins that will be sacrificed in a public bonfire on Shrove Tuesday - when one of the key events is reading of the carnival will, that involves unique traditions in Portugal. A girl reads the Compadre's will and a boy reads that of the Comadre. The text is divided into three sections: in the "beginning" the executors of the will are named, in the "bequeathances" section, a donkey is symbolically distributed between the heirs - Compadres and Comadres - and then there is a final reckoning, the "end" in which the Entrudo (Carnival doll) is burned.
The masks of Lazarim express a momentary division of the community. On the one hand, we see the Caretos (persons wearing large sculpted heads) and on the other hand the Senhorinhas, their female equivalent. Both roles however are performed by men, who are distinguished by their clothes and the caricatural betrayal of certain types of ridiculous situations that can be easily identified by everyone. In addition to the traditional masks sculpted in wood, the Careto also uses an anthropomorphic truncheon known as a "roberto".
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