Winter festivities - Podence Carnival
The Podence Carnival, also known as Entrudo Chocalheiro, is a social practice related to the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Between Fat Sunday and Carnival Tuesday, in the small Trasmontana village of Podence, in the municipality of Macedo de Cavaleiros, the Caretos come out through the streets, jumping and running. They are masked characters with costumes full of colorful wool fringes, tin or leather masks, and rattles around their waists. The Careto de Podence is known for its artistic singularity, the "ringing of the rattle", of which women are the main target, a symbolic act that refers to a remote origin and a possible connection with ancient agrarian and fertility rituals. Today, these masked men who visit the homes of neighbors and relatives, in a ritual of coexistence, are mainly emigrants. The Entrudo Chocalheiro thus constitutes an essential moment in the lives of the descendants of Podence, who return during Carnival to continue the practice inherited from parents and grandparents. As a reflection of the current context, the participation of young women is also common nowadays. The involvement begins in childhood, when children begin to wear costumes similar to those of the masked men and imitate their behavior.
