Carnival Case

Carnival traditionally occurs in the festive period before the Christian practice of lent. The Lenten period occurs in the six weeks preceding Easter and is marked by a period of abstinence and penitence, in recognition of Christ's period of fasting for forty days in the desert. Carnival is thought to originate from the period before lent when people had to in some way dispose of excessive supplies of food and drink and consequently threw a huge party. There is a possibility too that it has pre-christian origins and stems from the Roman Saturnalia, Bacchanalia or Lupercalia. All three of these Roman festivals were celebrated before the arrival of spring. However the omnipotence of the church during the middle ages frowned upon such an excess of celebration and shortened the festive period. The origins of Carnival might be disputed, but what is indisputable is that it marks a time of social inversion. The world was and still is turned upside down. Peasants became aristocrats and aristocrats became peasants, as class structure was dissolved. Nowadays humans dress as animals, men dress up as women, and women dress up as men. Carnival is a time of masquerades, a time of colourful pageants and parades. It is chaotic, joyful, and a means of escape from decorum, social restraint, and humdrum reality.

Carnival in Galicia is known as Entroido which means an introduction or entrance. It incorporates traditions that are century's old and contemporary political, social, and clerical satire and parody. The village of Laza is in the inland province of Ourense in Galicia, and is host to one of the most unique carnival celebrations in the world. It is generally regarded as the oldest and most pure carnival in the province in Ourense. The town of Verín in the same province also holds a significant carnival. It is a world away from the tourist thronged carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans and Venice. However it is possible, indeed probable, that the very uniqueness that the carnival in Laza is famous for will draw in ever more tourists and carnival seekers.

The Entroido in Verín begins on Domingo Fareleiro, or Bran Sunday, more formally known as Septuagesima, which is the third Sunday before lent. On this day, young men march through the town carrying bags of bran, flour and ashes, and proceed to throw the contents of the bags at young women, or stuff them down their clothes. The next significant day is on the following Thursday. It is known as Xoves de Compadres. On this day the local women take the men's clothes and create life size effigies from straw, dressing them in the men's clothes and display them in the town in positions of work or leisure. After midnight the men go out drinking and the women are banned from the streets. The next Thursday is known as the Xoves de Comadres, the final Thursday of the Entroido. On this night costumed women parade the streets in celebration. In theory men are forbidden