MÁSCARAS

The film documents the preparations for, and the actual unfolding of, the rituals held in the Trás-os-Montes region of northern Portugal in celebration of the “Winter Cycle”, a series of feasts lasting from Christmas to Ash Wednesday. The Winter Cycle is still celebrated in many regions of Europe, especially in the Alpine, Slavic and Balkanic countries, in the form of rituals performed by masked protagonists. In most cases, these masked protagonists play the part of characters taken from tradition and folklore. Many such characters – demons and ghosts – have a clear association with the dead. It’s reasonable to assume that in remote times, these characters were part of rituals held in connection with the cult of the dead. In Portugal, masked rituals can be found in the more rural and underdeveloped zones of Trás-os-Montes, where they’re held to variously mark the festivities included in the Winter Cycle – Christmas, St Stephen’s Day, the Festa dos Rapazes or “Feast of the Young Men”, New Year, Epiphany,