Laza
Friday, 21 February 2020
The “Entroido” or Carnival of Laza is a time to party, celebrating the end of winter and is one of the most ancient and bizarre Carnivals in the world.
To get to Laza (pop 1300) – 25 hours in a plane from Australia to Madrid. A day’s recovery. 4 hours in a train to Ourense for a night and then an hour or so in a hire car.
We found out about the Entroido when passing through Laza on the Camino Sanabres in 2017 and immediately booked a room at Pensión Blanco Conde for the Carnival of 2020.
Conchi and Tomás are fabulous hosts who explained the ins and outs of the Carnival (thankfully in Spanish, the only information available is in Gallego) and invited us to watch them dress a family member peliqueiro.
Saturday, 24 February 2020 – Vilariño de Conso
On Saturday we drove to Vilariño de Conso to see the Boteiros – click here
Sunday, 23 February 2020
Sunday, more than 150 peliqueiros appear for the first time in the Entroido of Laza. The origin, meaning and purpose of the peliqueiros seems lost in time but surely is pre-Roman. These characters wear a tall wooden mask decorated with bright paintings on the front, covered at the back with a animal fur and rush across the village imposing their authority.
Monday, 24 February 2020
Loco, loco – Monday is crazy
Monday starts with a friendly war where rags drenched in mud are thrown at random at everyone taking part, or not. We managed to dodge most of them.
Tuesday, 25 February 2020
Tuesday and the Peliqueiros continue frantically running around the town at random times, in random directions.
A short peliqueiro video
Turn up the volume