introduction: carnivals

In the Basque area, some specific terms are used during the Carnival period, which give Carnival activities a meaning which pre-dates the Lenten explanation. There are two especially important words, I񡵴eri ^[1] and Aratuste, both meaning “the time of pruning,” referring to the tasks carried out in the month of February before the arrival of spring and damaging insects. These activities, which possibly date from the Neolithic period, clean the trees and fields of insect larvae. Let us see the relation between this pruning and Carnival. 
In the village of Lantz we have three main characters: Miel Otxin, the giant; a straw filled man called Ziripot, and a hobby horse called Zaldiko. There is also a fancy dress procession of Perratzailles, “blacksmiths,” and the costumed young people of the village known as the Txatxos.
The giant Miel Otxin, like all the giants of the Middle Ages, represents hunger. Giants, included in the Ogre group, are voracious and have an insatiable appetite. Their stomachs reach from the roots of their hair to their toenails. In Lantz they say that the giant is a bandit who robbed travelers on the roads around the village, until one day he was captured, tried and killed. Local people say that Carnival is celebrated in memory of this drama. Ziripot with his clumsy movements can hardly walk. During the Carnival he is constantly charged by the hobby horse or Zaldiko. Zaldiko is made of a wooden frame which a young man wears attached to his waist. This young person’s face is blackened. The hobby horse races wildly among masqueraders and spectators, chases the girls and attacks Ziripot. A parody of the shoeing of the horse is also acted out. 

During the Carnival the most important traditional element to be found is in the clothes that people wear. In the Basque Country, as in other parts of Europe, there are numerous people in fancy dress processions, as we shall see. But the most striking thing is that in Basque the words for “disguise,” zomorro, mozorro, koko, mumua, etc., also mean “insect.” That is why the Basque language paints a very different picture of the Carnival. If the same word is used for “disguise” and “insect” it means that all the fancy dress costumes turn people into insects; they “insect-isize” people. In the month of February, Carnival time, there are not yet any insects. They are still in a larval state. This is why everyone “becomes an insect” by means of a costume. The disguises replace the spring insects which must be warded off.

carnivals

Despite the fact that Carnival has often been kept alive by its rural representations, it has gradually developed and perfectly adapted itself in the cities and important towns, where it has possibly acquired even greater strength.

An excellent example of this is Tolosa (Gipuzkoa) which has endeavoured to keep its Carnival at all costs despite periods of suffering and repression. Everyone gets dressed up for the occasion in Tolosa, wearing costumes ranging from the simplest of jellabahs to the most sophisticated outfits imaginable. Bullfights, float parades, groups of dancers and competitions are only some of the activities that make the Tolosa Carnival an event to remember.

In Gipuzkoa, carnival time is announced by the tinkers’ strange processions which imitate the nomadic wanderings of the gypsies who used to come to these areas over the carnival period, with their shows and skill in tin-smithery. In places such as Donostia-San Sebastian the rowdy tinkers “all the way from Hungary”, arrive on the Saturday after 2nd February every year.

In Bizkaia too they remember the gypsy bands who arrived for the carnival – in the Zagari Dantza of Markina-Xemein, for example, which include a bear and its tamer among the dancers. There are many similar vestiges of rural carnival which the Basque Country has preserved.

In Gipuzkoa, at the foot of Txindoki, one of the most beautiful mountains of this region, the youngsters of the two little communities of Amezketa and Abaltzisketa dance round the houses in an attempt to stir the goodwill and generosity of their neighbours. They are called txantxoak.

In Zalduaondo, in Alava, the main character of the fiesta is a dummy, markitos, who, year after year is judged, convicted and put to death.

European union´s new aim for the 2009

After reading the article of ” 2009 European Year of Creativity and Innovation” we are more aware of how is the European Union is organisated.

We have learnt that there are differents institutions to carry the organisation through.

On the one hand, we have the European Parlament where the laws are decided by 785 members who are supose to reprent us, the citizen. Those members are chosen every five years by the elections that takepart in the 27 states of the European Union.  

On the other hand, there is the European Council, is other of the three institutions we have read about. This establishment is based in the defense of humans rights and is made up of 47 countries. Also there is one, Belarus, who is asking to be accepted but it has been suspended because its lack of respect for human rights.

Europe in my map

We are explaning our knowledge of European geography

Country location:

Capital cities:

OUR FIRST POST

We are going to explore creativity in Kroatia

 We want to know something else about Kroatia because it could a very interesting place.

One of the reasons is its wild nature. There are amazing beaches and also like it`s in the image the wonderful water falls.

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