Masks, performance and tradition: local identities and global contexts

Abstract

Winter mask performances are an important cultural tradition in Northeastern Portugal. In Carnival, a particular kind of mask performance – Caretos – makes quite impressive appearances in Podence, a rural parish of Trás-os-Montes. In the context of the transformation that Portugal has undergone in the last decades, the semantic fields of these performances – presently rescued from their announced decline – have been greatly enlarged. They are now strongly connected to contemporary realities and characterized by multiple interpretations, which often provide the public stage for the affirmation and negotiation of local identities in post-rural Portugal. Drawing on the specific features of Podence’s Caretos, the article discusses the cultural landscapes that emerge from these post-modern entanglements and transformations within folk culture.