Anecdotes and memories of the Xinzo Entroido: the 1943 jail, a parody and the 2002 photos

The Xinzo Entroido is not only the masks: it is also the stories that pass from mouth to mouth. The blog As tradicións da Limia, by Xosé "Pepe" Calleja López, collects several.

1943: the Entroido in jail

It was the harsh era of the dictatorship: the Entroido was banned and only religious festivals were celebrated, with the severity that the regime imposed on customs. In 1943 several Xinzo neighbours went to jail and were also fined for celebrating it. It did not go further, says the article, because they were more or less supporters of the regime and had money to pay the penalties. It is said that, since those who organised the Entroido were in jail, the party moved to the street, where the prisoners were, and there was no lack of drink, food, singing or dancing ^[1].

Calleja knew one of those neighbours, who kept the 250-peseta fine in his wallet and gladly let the Pantallas catch him. A photograph from the 1990s, rescued from a floppy disk, shows four people at the window of the old Xinzo jail, on the first floor above the entrance door, today the municipal bagpipe and percussion school. Justo Gude helped identify those in the photo ^[1]. A mannequin from a fabric shop, dressed in a Pucho Pantalla in 1993, stood in the shop of one of them ^[2].

An improvised parody from the 1990s

Calleja tells of a completely improvised parody he witnessed in the 1990s that explains how street theatre is created. On the morning of Entroido Monday, in the Rúa dos Viños, two elderly women dressed in full mourning arrive by bicycle with wicker baskets; two Civil Guards with tricorn hats and glasses with an obscenely shaped nose appear from the street. The women, who say they are going to the vet for a "comechón" (an itch), pull enormous turnips from the baskets. The guards pretend to measure them to see if they are "regulation size" and threaten to report them, while the women weep like professional mourners, until a maid from a rich house comes shouting that they are going after her husband’s tail and all three end up scrapping on the ground; the guards turn round and leave whistling. The author concludes that they do not need anyone to "help" them make the Entroido, but to recover what used to be lived in the street ^[3].

Photos of Entroidos already lived

Calleja also photographs the Entroido he lived from the inside, respectfully and without being intrusive; from 2002 he keeps black-and-white photos on ILFORD HP5 PLUS 400 film. He remembers fondly the elders’ parodies and fears that the Xinzo Entroido will turn into Carnival "with a great pain in the heart" ^[4].

Links

• Entroido of Xinzo de Limia
• History of the Xinzo Entroido
• Entroido: memory and archive
• The 1955 cape

Sources

1. «ENTROIDO DO ANO 1943 EN XINZO DE LIMIA. OS ENTROIDEIROS NA CADEA – Tradicións da Limia», As tradicións da Limia. https://tradicionsdalimia.es/entroido-do-ano-1943-en-xinzo-de-limia-os-entroideiros-na-cadea/
2. «PANTALLA DO PUCHO FEITA PARA DECORACION NO ANO 1993. – Tradicións da Limia», As tradicións da Limia. https://tradicionsdalimia.es/pantalla-do-pucho-feita-para-decoracion-no-ano-1993/
3. «ENTROIDO DE XINZO DE LIMIA. AS PARODIAS – Tradicións da Limia», As tradicións da Limia. https://tradicionsdalimia.es/entroido-de-xinzo-de-limia-as-parodias/
4. «FOTOS DE ENTROIDOS XA VIVIDOS – Tradicións da Limia», As tradicións da Limia. https://tradicionsdalimia.es/fotos-de-entroidos-xa-vividos/