#caretos

[cogumellow]

caretos at the carnaval parade // lazarim, portugal // march 2025 // ©

[anneowl2803]

Portugal won this year’s Europol photography contest.

There’s nothing more iconic than a careto.

[welele]

Precioso.

credit to laurensulli on Tiktok

[miku-earth]

Miku careto de Podence! 👹 by _nebullak_

[bluberimufim]

The Caretos of Podence

Happy Carnaval!! Time for another cultural ramblie because I haven't done this in a while!!

(I just think they're cool)

This was originally gonna be about multiple Carnaval traditions in Portugal, like my Halloween post, because I wanted to talk about a really beautiful festivity in my city but then I realized it was related to an entirely different holiday and I wasn't gonna scrap this idea (I'll do that one in August, I guess??). So I decided to make a post about the Caretos of Podence because I just really vibed with them.

disclaimer! None of this is from lived experience, just online research (although I tried to use sources directly related to it, specifically the Casa do Careto website). I am not from Trás-os-Montes at all and have little contact with this. Just like in my first cultural ramblie, this is just me trying to better connect with my own culture and sharing what I find with anyone who's interested. If you see any errors or want to add anything, feel free!! I'm always happy to learn!

Okay, but before we begin: what exactly is Carnaval?

You might have heard of Brazil's Carnaval. Portugal's is way less hardcore but still culturally important (although some brazillian-style Carnavais are celebrated here).

The actual day of Carnaval is the day before Ash Wednesday, but it usually lasts about a week or 3 days in more urban areas (Carnaval break is a real thing that schools have). The general objective is to have an all-out celebration before Lent starts because, after that, you're not supposed to celebrate until Easter rolls around.

The Caretos

The village of Podence is in the middle of Trás-os-Montes, somewhat between Mirandela and Miranda do Douro. It is mostly known for this celebration, which lasts for about a week.

The name "caretos" means something like "big faces" and comes from their very recognizable masks. They're made of either leather or metal and are meant to completely obscure the identity of the wearer. The costumes are made of rows of coloured wool and are usually made by the community. The red, yellow, and green pattern is not mandatory and it can have many different colours, but it's the most common since it's the colours of the flag. On top of the costume, they wear a lot of bells: smaller ones attached to the straps on their chest and 4 to 8 bigger cowbells tied around their waist.

During the celebration, the caretos dance through the town, accompanied by the jingling of their bells. Traditionally, the caretos were young men who chased after single women, but today anyone can wear the costume and chase after anyone they please. They also go around stealing any easily grabbable chorizos left hanging from smokehouses, and use wooden staffs to propel their jumps higher.

On the last day of Carnaval, the Entrudo (a giant figure of a man) is burnt to draw away the bad things of the old year and let in the next. Like this:

This celebration has pagan roots, although none really know exactly where its origins lie. People seem to point to it being a pre-roman festivity, but we have few sources to go from. The most probable explanation is that it was a fertility ritual connected to the agricultural cycle, since this is generally the time in which farmers can start planting again after the winter.

I hope you enjoyed this little ramble. Because I very much did. Here's some more pictures:

[welele]

El gato "vegano" más feliz que han encontrado.

[cruxiu]

Hace mas de una década, Kaspersky descubrió un misterioso grupo de hackers al que llamó Careto, que estaba hackeando a Cuba y otros gobiernos.

Casi instantaneamente, el grupo desapareció completamente—hasta el año pasado.

Kaspersky nunca ha dicho quien està detras de Careto.

Ahora lo sabemos.

Podemos revelar que, internamente, los researchers de la firma antivirus estan convencidos que el gobierno Español estaba detrás del Careto, nos dicen fuentes de Kaspersky.

Aquí está la historia de un grupo de hackers que Kaspersky define como "legendario."

[cogumellow]

desfile de caretos // lazarim, portugal // March 2025 // ©

[olversui]

I wanna add that the guy's name means Big Dick in portuguese 😂

I am in AWE of the confidence on display here.

[kamalkafir-blog]

Mysterious hacking group Careto was run by the Spanish government, sources say

[TECH AND FINANCIAL] More than a decade ago, researchers at antivirus company Kaspersky identified suspicious internet traffic of what they thought was a known government-backed group, based on similar targeting and its phishing techniques. Soon, the researchers realized they had found a much more advanced hacking operation that was targeting the Cuban government, among others. Eventually the…

[sr-roto]

[thingsdavidlikes]

Entrudo de Lazarim #beiraalta #portugal by t3mujin

[folkfashion]

Portuguese Caretos masker, Portugal, by Ashley Suszczynski