👩🌾🥁🪈 The Hurdano Carnival
From giant phalluses and horny monks to hybrid bull-donkey-goat men, the remote hamlets of Las Hurdes in Extremadura bring their own wild narratives to Carnival.
In the chilly late winter backdrop of the northern Extremaduran mountain ranges, the declining populations in the villages of Las Hurdes do not flaunt the feathers, sequins, and glamour of other Carnivals. The costumes here have the appearance of being dug out of grandma’s bottom drawer and thrown together in a hurry; hats, coats, furs, scarves, shawls, face paint, along with the masks, mops for hair, skulls and horns typically associated with pre-Christian traditions.
However, turns out there is rhyme and reason in this motley crew’s costume choices.