WEBVTT
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Cow bells. That's the first sign, metallic, frantic bouncing off stone,
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like footsteps of a stranger. Then the laughter hits. A
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horned red face snaps into the torchlight, ribbons, flaring bells,
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screaming at its hips, and the corrito lunges grabbing you
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in a mischievous embrace.
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What you were about to beat is buried to be
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based on witness accounts, testimonies, and public record, this is terrifying, And.
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Tonight we travel to northern Portugal, the land of many
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of my ancestors, into a village of stone lanes and
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cold night air, where an ancient festival still unleashes something
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that looks, sounds and moves like a demon. They call
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them the Krritos, masked figures in shredded color, armed with
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cow bells, anonymity and a tradition that appears older than
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the country itself. Some say it's pagan theater and echo
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of pre Roman rites. Others insist it's simply the community
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granting chaos, a brief sanctioned rain before the solemnity of lent.
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But if those bells are closing in you hear them
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all around, you may not have time to decide what
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exactly you believe, so make sure you're subscribed on your
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favorite podcasting app. As we head to Iberia, we have
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a date with a dark destiny. As we discover these
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fascinating and terrifying traditions, night falls on the remote village
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of Podense in northern Portugal. The only warning is the
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clatter of cowbells echoing off stone walls. A young woman
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presses herself into a doorway, heart pounding and laughter and
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wild shrieks grow nearer. Suddenly, a figure bursts from the shadows,
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a man shaped thing draped in ragged ribbons of red, yellow,
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and green. A demonic face glares from behind a horned
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mask with a whoop. The creature lunges, cow bells jangle
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furiously at his waist as he throws a wooly arm
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around the girl in what would be called a mischievous embrace.
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He bats playfully at her hair with the tasseled tip
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of his long hood and bumps his bell studded hips
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against hers in a manic dance. She squeals in mock
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horror while her family roars with laughter. In a flash,
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the masked demon releases her and away down the alley.
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Bells clanging, and cape flying off to startle his next victim.
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This is not a nightmare, but a celebration. Welcome to Intrudeau,
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where the Carretos, the wild carnival demons of Trasos Montes
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run riot. The cartos tradition is among the oldest in Portugal,
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believed to date back centuries, perhaps even millennia. Many historians
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trace these masked revelers to pre Roman Celtic rituals that
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survived in the remote hills of the Iberian Peninsula. The
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very word in Trudeau, today synonymous with carnival, originally meant
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an entry in pagan times, referring to the entry into
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the warm season after winter's darkness, long before it became
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tied to lent, and Trudeau marked the end of winter
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and the arrival of spring, a time to drive away
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evil spirits and invite fertility and renewal. In these ancient festivals,
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young men would dawn fearsome disguises, wild costumes, and frightful
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masks to represent other worldly beings. By becoming these devils,
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they could scare off the literal and figurative gloom of winter.
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Some anthropologists believed that karritos began as a rite of
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passage away for adolescent boys to prove themselves through boisterous
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rule breaking behavior. Scholars also link the kartos to agrarian
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cults of fertility and ancestor worship, where the masked youths
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as proxies for ancient gods or spirits, insured bountiful crops,
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healthy livestock, and the continuity of the community. By downing
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the mask, an ordinary villager could bridge the worlds of
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the living and the dead, channeling primal chaos for the
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good of the tribe. The Catholic Church later folded this
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unruly celebration into the pre lent carnival season, but beneath
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the veneer of Christianity, the pagan DNA of Intrudeau remains unmistakable.
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The hallmark of Acquareto is his vividly colorful costume and
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devilish mask, a look at once comical and frightening. Traditionally,
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the costume handmade from old quilts or thick woolen blankets
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cut into fringed strips of red, green, yellow, black, and
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other bright hues. These long fringes cover the Carreto from
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head to toe, giving him a ragged shaggy silhouette that
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flutters as he moves over this, he straps on leather
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harnesses hung with clanging cowbells and rattles, often weighing many pounds.
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Every step or hip thrust produces a wild jangle, the
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unmistakable soundtrack of Intrudeau. In fact, the Carreto carnival is
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often nicknamed Intrudeau cocarero, literally Carnival of the rattles and bells,
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for the deafening noise of those bells. And then there
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is the mask, usually made of sheet metal, leather, or wood.
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Each mask is painted in lurid colors, blood red being
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the favorite, with exaggerated features like a long hooked nose,
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bulging lips or teeth, and occasionally horns. The effect is
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a caricature of a devil or mischievous spirit. In the
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village of Podense, Carreto masks are often bright red with
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a menacing grin In Lazarim. By contrast, the masks are
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hand carved from alderwood and topped with horns for an
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even more demonic look. Whatever the material, the mask conceals
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the reveler's identity completely, two eye holes and perhaps a
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mouth slit. Are the only human feels features in an
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otherwise monstrous visage. In the flickering torchlight of a Podensa alley,
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such a horned apparition truly looks like a nightmare come
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to life. Disguised in this way, the correto is effectively
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no one and everyone free to unleash mischief without personal consequence.
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The anonymity of the mask is the key to the tradition.
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It grants a license to transgress. As one cultural historian
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put it, when the creto masks up quote, the world
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of gods and the dead is temporarily established among men,
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and normal rules no longer apply. The young men and
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nowadays women as well, behind the masks adopt high pitched voices,
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beastly grunts, or other distorted sounds, never speaking in their
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normal tones. Further shrouding themselves in mystery, they transform fully
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into koreatos, carnival demons. For the few days of intrudeu
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night in Podensee brings an uneasy thrill. Somewhere out in
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the darkness, the karatos are on the move, their cowbells
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faintly jangling in the distance. When the festivities begin, the
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quiet villages of trasos montesch erupt into chaos and laughter. Traditionally,
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the revelry kicks off in the days leading up to Lent,
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from Fat Sunday through Shrove Tuesday, with karetos pouring in
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from the surrounding countryside. They come from every part of
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the village to join in groups. One account describes running
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and shouting excitedly, scaring the people and assaulting all the
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wine cellars. Indeed, a time honored Crito pastime is to
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barge in to local taverns and sellers, rob them of
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wine or food, and gulp down hardy quantities of the
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region's wine. It's all done in good humor. Villagers often
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play along by offering the masked mob alcohol and watching
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the fun. One local tale recounts how a mob of
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karetos once invaded a tavern, seized a full wine cask
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and passed it around like a giant cup, gulping the
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contents amid gales of laughter. The Koreatos' main targets, however,
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are not the wine jugs, but the villagers themselves, especially
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young women. An old carnival courting play that modern eyes
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might find a bit unsettling during Intrudeau, gangs of Koreatos
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charged through the streets on a mission of semi serious mischief,
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frightening bystanders, chasing women, and generally causing mayhem. They leap
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out from unexpected corners, let out ear piercing whoops, and
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rattle their belts ferociously at anyone in their path. If
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you're caught, prepared to be playfully harassed. A favorite trick
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is to rattle or shake the girls, essentially to jingle
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the belt of cowbells against a woman's hips in a
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a symbolic, if not suggestive dance. In the past, karetos
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carried dried pig bladders or inflated cow bladders as weapons,
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whacking onlookers with these smelly balloons for a laugh. Others
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swung whips made of animal hide or sticks, striking the
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ground or the legs of laggards to herd people along.
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It's said that no one is supposed to walk the
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streets uncostumed during Intrudeau, and the Karetos enforced that rule
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by terrorizing anyone not in a disguise until they join
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the fun or seek refuge indoors. For the young women
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of the village, carnival mischief traditionally had a rough edge.
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Older generations still recall how decades ago quote the village
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girls used to hide inside their homes to avoid the
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unruly karretos attention and little wonder. In those days, the
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masked youths took pride in truly outrageous pranks. They would
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whip people with the mentioned bladders, shower crowds with ashes
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and even animal manure, and if a girl was too
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slow to flee, she might get grabbed and unceremoniously smeared
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with soot. Karetos thought nothing of bursting into houses, bashing
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down doors to overturn dinner pots, blow out lamps, or
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drag people outside into the cold of night. In one
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notorious stunt, particularly bold karreatos reportedly dumped unsuspecting victims into
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a bath of ants, upending an ant infested log or
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antill onto a person. Such antics made the kaatos genuinely
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feared by children and respected, if begrudgingly, by adults. These
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were nights when the devils ran free, and all decent
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folk could do was either join in the madness or
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stay behind locked doors until the storm passed. In modern times,
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the kritos have toned down the brutality, but only a little.
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Today's pranks are described as relatively mild and playful compared
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to the past. The wild chases continue, but the weapons
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of choice are now more symbolic, the bells and hoods
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of the costume itself. Kretos will bash people with their
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long hoods, rock parked cars back and forth, pilfer hats,
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and of course still grab and bump into attractive young
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women amid fits of giggles. Antics carried on with a wink,
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even if they might raise a few eyebrows. Today it
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is not uncommon for a kreto to clamber up a
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balcony or scale a low roof if a group of
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girls has wisely sought higher ground. The sight of a
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dozen fringe suited devils swarming up a wall as there
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would be victims shriek with laughter is the essence of
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intrudeau mischief. No one is truly safe from their shenanigans.
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Aside from the quick and the cleverly costumed about the
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only people that karretos leave alone are the matrophonas men
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dressed in drag, as gaudy old women who are considered
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off limits in the spirit of carnival parody. These Matrophonos,
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with their garish dresses and head scarves, will later enact
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mock weddings with the Carretos as part of the festivities,
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further blurring gender and social norms. Despite all of the mayhem,
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the atmosphere is overwhelmingly festive and good humored. All over town,
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bells clang and people howl with laughter, as everyone young
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and old is either part of a prank or the
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target of one. The entire community understands that this temporary
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chaos is the point of Intrudeau, a cathartic release of
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societal pressure. For a few days, the usual hierarchies vanish,
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the youth have the run of the village. Authority is mocked,
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and even the shy can become flamboyant tricksters behind a mask.
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As one participant Riley noted after being jostled by some Carretos. Today,
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the pranks may leave you quote a little bruised, but
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they're all in good fun. Come ash Wednesday, the costumes
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will be hung up, the soot washed off, and the
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normalcy will return. But until then, through the long winter
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nights of Intrudeau, the carnival demons reign supreme. The Crrito
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celebrations typically build to a raucous climax on Shrove Tuesday,
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also known as Mardi Gras. By that point, the masked
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revelers have been causing havoc since the preceding Sunday, and
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the entire village is swept up in the carnival spirit.
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In Podunse and many other towns, Carnival is actually the
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wildest day of all, so packed with events that locals
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simply call it the fun second Fiatra. Medieval style marching
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bands roam the streets, Drummers and bagpipers add to the
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din of bells, and satirical skits or plays are performed
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in the village square. One long standing tradition on Carnival
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Monday night in Podense is for a group of men
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to publicly read a list of fictitious engagements, pairing off
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local boys and girls in joky betrothals to illicit groans
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and laughter from the crowd. It's a night of relentless
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mockery and mirth. As darkness falls on Shrove Tuesday, Intrudeau
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often ends in literal flames. In keeping with Carnival customs
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worldwid wide, tras os. Motese villages will torch a figure
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called the Intrudeo, a Shrovetide carnival effigy that represents the
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excesses of the season. Sometimes the effigy is a straw
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stuffed dummy, symbolizing the sins of the past year. Other
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times there are two figures, a male and female carnival
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that are set ablaze as a purification rite. In Podense,
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an impressive torchlit procession winds through the darkened streets, with
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karetos leading townsfolk by flaming torches to the site of
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the bonfire. There to triumphant shouts, the giant effigy is ignited.
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Sparks fly up into the cold sky as the demon
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masked karatos dance around the flames, ringing their bells in
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frenzied fair well to Intrudeau. By the time the last
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Ember dies, the rain of the Crretos is over, at
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least until next winter. For all of its chaos, Intrudeau
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has always been about driving away winter's darkness and ushering
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in the spring. Even the corretos playful harassment of young
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women echoed ancient fertility rites, a covert courtship ritual promising
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new unions and future births. Beneath the guise of mischief,
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underneath the revelry lies an age old hope scare off
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the evil spirits and cold of winter, ensure that warmth
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and fertility return, and the sight of life can begin anew.
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By the mid twentieth century, the Carretos of trosso Montes
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had terrified and delighted countless generations, but the pressures of
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the modern world nearly snuffed them out. The nineteen sixties
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and seventies were hard times in rural Portugal. Economic hardship
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and the authoritarian Salazar regime drove many young people to emigrate,
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leaving villages depopulated. Winters in Podense grew eerily quiet. The
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clamor of bells and whoops vanished, as in Trudeau all
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but faded away. With so few youths left to don
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the costumes, and a dictatorship that frowned on unruly festivals,
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the annual masquerades waned. Some villages simply stopped holding in
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Trudeau altogether during those dark and cold years. Yet, like
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spring itself, in Trudeau refused to vanish forever. With the
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return of democracy and a renewed pride in folk culture.
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The nineteen eighties saw a determined revival of the koretos
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in Podenze. Locals formed a Koreatos association to ensure the
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tradition did not disappear. They also started the next generation.