Showing posts with label Fiesta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fiesta. Show all posts

Monday 20 January 2020

Las Carontoñas de Acehuche on the fiesta of San Sebastian 2020



The fiesta of San Sebastian on January 20 is celebrated in a particularly bizarre fashion in the small village of Acehúche near Caceres. The carantoñas are wild creature characters, mixing paganism with Christianity as they prowl around the village dressed in grotesque costumes made from a patchwork of hides, horns and tusks from sheep, cows, goats and wild boar, the headdress is particularly gruesome with plenty of gore. They revere San Sebastian, an early Christian martyr, in remembrance of the legend that after he was tortured and killed by his fellow Roman soldiers his body was not devoured by the wild beasts of the forest. Arriving eventually at the village church, a procession takes place with the statue of the saint bound to a living orange tree, local twist. There are explosive rifle volleys, confetti and rosemary strewn in the streets. The carantoñas precede the saint performing a ritualistic dance and reverence along the route together with pipes and drums, the girls of the village are dressed in their best finery, some flirting goes on between the hideous beasts and the beauties.

This year it was really freezing cold even though the sun was shining in a blue sky, we did not linger but left with colourful memories and confetti in our clothes.

Here's a video I took in 2014, 6 years ago already, nothing has changed!




































Wednesday 20 January 2016

BIZARRE FIESTA IN ACEUCHE-BEAUTIES AND THE BEASTS

On January 20th the feast of San Sebastian is celebrated in the small rural community of Aceuche in the Caceres province. The image of the saint is carried from the church of San Sebastian and taken around the village on a float, he is rather fetchingly bound to a real orange tree loaded with fruit, his usual rather campy pose with long suffering uplifted eyes is well in evidence, strangely this image is not pierced with arrows. So far so usual............but the extraordinary elements of this fiesta are the carantoñas, wild creatures clad in goat skin with hideous masks dripping in masculine fertility symbols; horns, tusks, red hot chili peppers!  They brandish little thorny branches from the wild olive trees, aceuches. They run around chasing the girls but are rather encumbered, it takes 3 people to dress each carantoña. In other words another pagan festival disguised as a Christian saint's day. A festival to drive out the winter and welcome the spring with suitable fertility symbolism, much fun and joy.
 A really unique fiesta in Extremadura and well worth a visit to welcome the spring once again...........the storks are coming back and there is almond blossom budding.



















 

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