Caretos de Podence, oldest Carnival in Portugal
Image source The next days are dedicated to Carnival celebrations all over the world. So I bring you the oldest Portuguese Carnival. Its origins go back in time. It’s the Carnival of Podence a small village in northern Portugal. The men you’ll watch in this video are known as Caretos. They become superior beings, they are magical figures when they wear tin masks with a hooked noses, colored wool bangs, and a stick. Only men and boys can wear these masks and suits and they are like devils that chase women on the streets. They grab women, especially single women, and then they shake their body. The belt has cowbells – chocalhos - attached so the dance is quite noisy. The gesture of beating with chocalhos is related to the beating Pan priests gave women in the Spring festivals. They believed women would get pregnant with such a beating. Caretos has its origin in those fertility rituals and Spring announcing festivals. Each year more people go to Macedo de Cavaleiros to wa...