Entroido of Xinzo de Limia

The Entroido of Xinzo de Limia is, according to the Town Council, one of the most important for its ritual weight and the longest in Europe, because its celebrations stretch over five consecutive weeks ^[1]. The main days are Entroido Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but the traditional cycle starts much earlier, with the Fareleiro, Oleiro and Corredoiro Sundays, and extends even to Piñata Sunday ^[1]. Since 2019 it has been declared a Festival of International Tourist Interest ^[1][4]. Its emblematic mask is the Pantalla, the "guardian of the Entroido" ^[1].

One cycle, five weeks

Wikipedia summarises the order of the celebrations like this: Fareleiro Sunday with the first bran battle in the Praza Maior; the Meco Saturday, which leaves the Barrio de Abaixo at dusk with straw torches up to the "colgamento" (hanging); Oleiro Sunday and the game of clay pots from Niñodáguia; the Saturday and Sunday of Corredoiro, when the Pantallas appear for the first time; the five big days, from Friday with the children’s parade to Tuesday with the parade; the burial of the sardine on Ash Wednesday and the close with the Saturday and Sunday of Piñata, when the Meco returns to the museum ^[2]. Each day is explained in The Entroido cycle, day by day.

The Pantalla

The Pantalla is Xinzo’s traditional mask: a white suit with a red sash, gaiters and a cape, a belt of bells and jingles, cow bladders and a mask made of paper, felt, card and paste ^[1][3]. It is explained in Anatomy of the Pantalla, with its sounds in The sounds of the Pantalla, and the trades that made it possible in Craftspeople and historic pantallas. To place it among the other Ourense masks (peliqueiros, cigarróns, felos, the vergalleiro of Sarreaus) see The Pantalla among the masks of the Galician Entroido.

History and memory

The word, the 1889 chronicle, the A Pantalla Association (1996) and the tourist-interest designations of 1997 and 2019 are in History of the Entroido of Xinzo. Archive texts (Carlos Casares as an Entroido devotee, the blind singers of the fairs) are in Entroido: memory and archive; the written satire, in The wills of the donkey and The Entroido song contest.

The Museo Galego do Entroido

The Museo Galego do Entroido, in the former Praza de Abastos of Xinzo, has an exhibition on the cycle and the masks of Galicia (with the Pantalla among the "queens of the Entroido"), another on Carlos Casares and the headquarters of the A Pantalla Association.

FAQ

Links

• Fareleiro Sunday
• Oleiro Sunday and the Game of the Pots
• The FESMOU Entroido Gathering
• Vocabulary of the Pantalla
• Styles and workshops of the Pantalla
• The whip and the belt of bells
• The 1955 Pantalla cape
• The Entroido of Congostro
• Anecdotes and memories of the Xinzo Entroido
• Festivals of A Limia
• Xinzo de Limia
• Carlos Casares

Sources

1. Concello de Xinzo de Limia, «Entroido de Xinzo, un sentimento» e páxinas do ciclo. http://xinzo.gal/entroido/
2. «Entroido de Xinzo de Limia», Wikipedia en galego (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entroido_de_Xinzo_de_Limia
3. «O Entroido de Xinzo», xinzodelimia.com. https://xinzodelimia.com/o-entroido-de-xinzo/
4. «El Entroido de Xinzo ya es oficialmente Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional», Vía Lethes, 22/01/2019. https://vialethes.es/entroido-xinzo-fiesta-interes-turistico-internacional