Spanish carnival of Jurramacho gives licence to let loose anonymously

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By Troy Nahumko

Particular to the Calgary Herald

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Within the huge pasturelands of Extremadura, three gnarled knuckles of granite rise out of the greys and greens of the encompassing olive groves and holm oak woods. Like outstretched fingers from a resting hand, they attain out from a fist of rock that climbs up one other 200 metres behind. Atop, a half-ruined citadel crowns the center finger. Like a treasured stone set in a hoop, it surveys the rolling savannah, extra African than European, under.

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Our BMW coupe swishes previous a diminutive waterfall trickling out from the rocky scrub above. The automotive appears to instinctively gear right down to take the final of the windy curves after which swings off the secondary freeway, sending us up a smaller street that has just one vacation spot: the outcrop village of Montanchez.

I’m right here with an area duo, Victor and Victoria to expertise one of many area’s most unbiased festivals, the carnival of Jurramacho. Whereas carnival celebrations are widespread throughout Spain, this one suggests one thing else. One thing extra primordial, a time earlier than mass advertising and marketing and Brazilian skin-baring copycats. It’s a carnival that’s extra unassuming than ostentatious and extra particular person than collective. A fiesta the place every participant seeks to create anonymity.

We discover a parking spot and, as we step out of the automotive, Victoria grabs some baggage from the again and says, “The best way individuals costume up for carnival right here is completely different from different locations. The thought isn’t essentially to have probably the most extravagant or made-up costume. The primary goal is to grow to be unidentifiable. To erase who you might be and grow to be somebody or, extra exactly, one thing else. That’s what the determine of the Jurramacho is all about … and I got here ready with outdated garments in case we need to take part.”

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The village is constructed alongside one of many boney fingers of rock extending out from the Sierra, culminating in a fantasy of crumbling Arabic battlements and medieval towers. This pure vantage level overlooking the Silver Means that bisected the peninsula from north to south was initially fortified again when Merida, 50 km south, was the Roman capital of Iberia. Then, within the eleventh century, the Almohad dynasty vastly expanded the stronghold solely to definitively lose it after a number of back-and-forth exchanges with the primarily Christian armies from the north.

Right this moment, on the citadel’s base lies what was, bizarrely sufficient, voted Spain’s finest cemetery. The necropolis dates again to 1810 and is dug into the granite that makes up the rocky skirt main up the steep cliff to the fortress. From these terraced tombs, a panoramic view of the way in which into city stretches out, forming a triangle between this overlook and the UNESCO World Heritage cities of Caceres and Trujillo, every 50 km away.

The best way into city, nonetheless, tells a unique, newer story. Certainly one of heterogenous growth and bust, uncontrolled improvement that blights and mars the outer rings of cities and villages throughout Extremadura. Because the streets slim in direction of the centre although, the buildings homogenize considerably with whitewashed, terraced homes crowding the haphazard, sinuous streets that unwind from the foot of the citadel.

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It was early and the streets have been nonetheless quiet after I noticed my first Jurramacho. It was like a chest of outdated, but clear, garments had been frolicked on a line and was strolling. You couldn’t inform if it was a person or a lady, younger or outdated, it was utterly denatured. However probably the most hanging facet was the masks. Like one thing out of a low-budget horror film, the cotton cowl from Montanchez’s star product, cured ham, had been usual right into a macabre-looking veil.

The roots of the phrase carnival lie in Latin, a time when the devoted bid farewell to meat in the course of the Lenten interval, which due to the Vatican II was altered to solely abstaining on Fridays. Right this moment, few adherents born after the Second Vatican Council abide by the foundations, however few locations are extra acceptable to bid the flesh adios, for up on this considerably rarified air they produce among the finest cured Iberian ham within the nation.

“Earlier than we dive into the competition, we have to get correctly acclimatized …  and which means sampling among the finest this city has to supply,” Victor of the spectacular beard says, ducking right into a small unassuming bar alongside the white row of homes within the Calle Virgen del Castillo.

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Stepping down into the cave-like Bodega de Perez, we’re instantly hit with the nutty musk of the mummified dried ham legs hanging on the partitions. The low, vaulted brick ceilings of this repurposed wine cellar appear to pay attention and intensify the heady scent of a lot charcuterie. Low stools abut equally low tables topped with picket serving platters carved into black pigs’ hooves, symbolizing the free-range specialty of the home.

An extended desk to the left with three legs of ham secured of their holders shows what everyone seems to be having, various kinds of cured ham. Wielding a protracted, rapier-sharp knife, a server slivers off plate after plate of paper-thin ham from pigs that have been ate up acorns, feed or a mixture of each. Every has a definite character and style remarkably completely different, as is the ascending worth for every plate.

Again out on road stage, I discover effigies of Jurramachos within the balconies of the streets main into the Plaza Altozano. The time period Jurramacho, alluding to somebody masked and wearing weird garments, comes from the Hispanic Arabic time period for buffoon, muharrig. Over centuries, the phrase was marooned within the Mudejar communities in these mountains and it now refers back to the central determine of the fiesta.

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“As you possibly can see, outdated garments don’t get thrown away right here in Montanchez. Everybody’s acquired a closet or a chest the place they maintain issues they don’t put on anymore, saving all of them 12 months to make use of throughout carnival to create their eclectic Jurramacho costumes,” Victoria tells me.

Over time, quite a few obvious makes an attempt have been made to mood, if not outright ban this competition. Neither the Absolutism of the 18th century, nor the Liberal Reform of the nineteenth, nor the fascist dictatorship of the twentieth, nor the pandemic of the twenty first managed to suppress it and it has been celebrated uninterrupted all through.

This doesn’t essentially imply the authorities lacked the ability to manage the inhabitants although. In reality, carnival celebrations have lengthy been used as a security valve, permitting the decrease lessons to briefly solid off social conventions and mock the wealthy and highly effective. This lampooning, nonetheless, was solely permitted throughout a set interval, one which was dictated from above. “Throughout the Franco regime, the mayor would parade via the streets with a trumpet, inaugurating carnival whereas reminding everybody of the restrictions. As soon as introduced, he would then disappear for a couple of days. In impact turning a blind eye to what was occurring,” Victoria says.

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“My aunt tells the story of a moist blanket Guardia Civil sergeant who as soon as tried to get severe right here within the village,” Victoria informs me with an ironic curl of her lip and a chuckle. “One 12 months he insisted on making an attempt to implement the dictatorship’s ban on mask-wearing or parodying navy, civil or ecclesiastical authorities. However the locals have been having none of that, this was their time. For his troubles, the priggish sergeant ended up getting thrown into the Altozano fountain simply over there.”

Way back to 1906, municipal bylaws have been handed in an try and rein in among the wilder elements of the carnival with articles like quantity 14 stating it’s forbidden for masks wearers to make parodies, carry out acts and utter expressions which will offend any faith, morals or good customs; in addition to to make jokes which will disturb passers-by and throw, on them or within the homes, any object which will trigger hurt.

Fortunately issues are not thrown on passersby from above and we transfer previous the fountain of the dunked Civil Guard, noticing that the variety of small teams of Jurramachos heading to the sq. is rising. “Buenos dias!” shrieks one of many figures because it shambles by. Victoria laughs, “That’s one other factor. Not solely is the target to be unrecognizable, but in addition to vary your voice and even the way in which you stroll. This anonymity additionally offers license to the particular person in disguise to play sensible jokes on individuals who aren’t dressed up or say ironic and amusing issues to them.”

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“I feel it’s time we be part of the anonymity and dress up earlier than we stand out an excessive amount of and grow to be targets for the extra edgier sensible jokes,” Victor advises. “Let’s get to the attic, meet Victoria’s aunt and get modified.”

We climb the steep stairs to the attic and 70-something-year-old Maria Jose greets us with enthusiasm, three pals and a room affected by outdated garments. “You may’t have sufficient decisions for ….

“There’s one thing concerning the masks right here in Montanchez. As soon as you place it on, the whole lot modifications. Not solely in the way in which the wearer acts but in addition in the way in which that individuals deal with you. Above all, the masks is revered,” and to show her level she continued. “With the anonymity it bestows on the particular person sporting it, it type of offers the Jurramacho a protected standing. Issues are permitted that usually wouldn’t be. It’s like one thing sacrosanct.

“Let me let you know a narrative. There was as soon as a lady right here within the village who was fond of constructing jokes and getting one of the best of individuals. Properly, as soon as she was dressed up as a Jurramacho and noticed her unmasked mother-in-law sitting with some pals within the sq.. She marched proper as much as her and slapped her within the face. Then, within the disguised voice of the Jurramacho stated, ‘That’s for the subsequent time you do one thing to deserve it.’”

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We step out into the pulsing sq.. The music rattles the white plastic sheets from the considerably hideous-looking plastic tarp like a techno kazoo. The streetside bars that line the principle sq. are backed up 4 and 5 individuals deep and teams of Jurramachos are dancing collectively preparing for what guarantees to be a protracted Spanish night time of enjoyable.

The costumes appear to get increasingly more and extra outlandish because the night time progresses and extra teams pour into the sq.. Some have chosen to decorate up thematically, reflecting lecturers, nurses, law enforcement officials and clowns whereas others maintain to an individualized, eclectic vibe. All of the Jurramachos taunt those that aren’t dressed up as they dance by of their high-pitched voices.

What’s shocking is the quantity of people that aren’t dressed up. Whereas they don’t outnumber those that are, there are greater than you’d count on. As we dive into the group, I look via my linen masks and really feel safe. No less than nobody goes to confuse me for his or her mother-in-law tonight.

The Jurramacho Carnival of Montanchez – a conventional rural feast within the Extremadura area north of Seville – is on Feb. 18, 2023.

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