Carnaval

This past Tuesday, Katie and I decided to ditch our obligations and soak up some Basque culture, which I truly needed. I gave my 14 year old girls team the night off and rescheduled my Tuesday tutoring session for Thursday.

And why do all this you ask? Car-nah-vahl... carnaval! It´s sort of like the Mardi gras of Basque country but much older and a totally different celebration. It´s sort of like Halloween, but there are specific, historic, legendary costumes. Some kids just go as whatever, and others choose a typical get up. There´s no door to door trick or treating, but a big party.

Katie and I went to Lanz. Here´s a tiny description. As the link tells you, the winter nights were long and boring and needed a bit of folklore and a reason to party. As well, a great way to ring in the spring. In Lanz, they follow the old carnaval legend of Milochin. Milochin was a giant robber, they say. He used to come down from the hills and rob the townspeople of Lanz with his buddy, Silipot (I think is how you say it), and then they would run back up into the mountains with all they had stolen. One year, the townspeople decided to stop him and captured the pair and ran them through the town for everyone to see. Afterwards, they killed them both and had a big bonfire and dance in the center of town. Mom, you should ask Tom Graff if he knows any of this stuff.

So, the town re-enacts this each year when the sun sets on carnaval and it´s so cool. Katie and I went way too early, because someone from my school said we had to. But, Irene and Angel were there an hour before to meet us and they got a better parking spot than we did! Anyhow, we arrived at 4 and waited around and walked around the tiny town about 10 times, sat on an old wall, chatted and had a snack in the car... it was a beautiful day, and crisp. A good one for passing time in a small town. There was just one bar so we had a beer and a coffee and then just perused. Anyhow, once the sun set, the festivities began. Irene, Angel, KT and I stood on the side of the road and all these guys dressed as sort of clown witches and sacks of potatoes came running by and hit the townspeople and threw them all around. I guess they are Milochin´s gang. The sack guys have huge wooden pitchforks and they really get scary with poking you. The witch clowns hit us with brooms. Angel is much smaller than Irene and Katie and I and they grabbed him and threw him across the street, it was hilarious!

Then came Milochin, in capture. He´s a big giant they´ve made out of broom sticks and dressed like the clown witches. Silipot is a big fat guy that rolls along behind him, also captured, and is dressed like the potato sack guys. They walk them all through the town to show they have caught them and they are guarded by the guys who are going to shoot them in the town square and two guys carrying the fire to burn their bodies with. Sounds violent, I know, but all old legends are that way.

So, the whole thing finished in the town square, where the exicutioners waited for the criminals. They shot them, and dismantled them and then did an old Basque dance in a circle for a while. The news was there and Irene said I should have gone and been like, "I came all the way from the U.S..." But I was too shy. I think I could have done it though, the español´s gettin´pretty good.

We headed home after that, but it was a cool adventure. I´ll try to upload my pictures soon.

I hope all is well back home. Talk to you soon I hope!