The sounds of the Pantalla and Vicente Risco’s riddle about the cigarrones in Xinzo

Xosé "Pepe" Calleja López documented in As tradicións da Limia how a Pantalla sounds and behaves, and left a small archival riddle posed ^[1][2][3].

The belt of bells and jingles

An Entroido mask always has a sound generator. In Xinzo it is the belt of bells and jingles hanging from the waist; the cowbells and bells were borrowed from sheep, goats and cows, which for a few days went out to graze without them. On the belt of the Xinzo Pantallas the bells hang in front of the body, while on other masks, because of the size of the cowbells, they hang down the back. In old photos the belt is crossed over the chest of children, because they were adults’ belts. The source describes how a bell belt is made for children and adults (with a glued and sewn leather strip) and gives the video of Entroido Tuesday 2020 in the Praza de Oriente ^[1].

The guttural sound and the bladders

The Pantalla loses speech, a human attribute: it does not talk, but it emits guttural sounds amplified by the shape of the mask. Calleja always heard and made the sound with the letter "O". When it takes to the street it trots and, on seeing a person, approaches saying "Oooooó, ooooo, o-o-o-o" and strikes with the bladders. When two pantallas "dance" the sound lengthens: "Ooooooó o-o-o-o – Ooooooó – Oooooó o-o-o-o", striking the bladders, jumping and spinning. One day he heard some lads say that the next day they wanted to put on "the beast", meaning the Pantalla ^[2].

Hunting an acquaintance

When the Pantallas spot an acquaintance not in costume, they start a kind of hunt: they circle without being noticed and, if the person does not see them, they grab him or her and take them to a tavern; if the person sees them, a chase begins in which the sound is repeated very fast ("Ooooó, Ooooó…") until they catch them. Before unmasking in the tavern they perform a dance of recognition for whoever treats them to some wine; then they take off the mask and the party begins: the chase is retold, stories are told, there is singing and drinking ^[2].

Risco’s riddle

In March 2021 Calleja visited the exhibition "Os nosos entroidos" by Francisco González in Ourense and saw behind the Pantalla a plate, on loan from the Vicente Risco Foundation, with the text: «Carantoña e gorro dos cigarróns. Hainos en Ginzo con unha vexiga e péganlle ô que pasa. Entre 2 collen a calquera polas pernas, lévano â taberna e tenlles que pagar viño» (quote). He looked for the source and found that in issue 35 of the journal Nós (1926), in the "Archivo filolóxico e etnográfico de Galiza", Risco writes that the custom of the cigarrones comes from Laza, which «s’estenden a Verín, e derradeiramente, tamén a Ginzo» (quote), where "ten dereito a bater coa vexiga a todol-os que pasan e ninguén lle pode bater a íl"; twice "xúntanse dous cigarróns, collen a calquera pol-as pernas, e lévano â taberna" and the person involved pays for wine ^[3]. There is also a watercolour by Risco with cigarrones. The riddle is that Risco, in 1926, links the behaviour of the Pantalla (the bladders, the hunt for an acquaintance and the tavern) to that of the cigarrones of Laza, which invites us to ask to what extent the Xinzo Pantalla is related to them; Calleja gathers data so that each person can draw their own conclusions ^[3]. The legend recorded in another study attributes the creation of the first Pantalla to José Santiago Taboada, secretary of Laza Town Council (see Craftspeople and historic pantallas).

Links

• Entroido of Xinzo de Limia
• Anatomy of the Pantalla
• The Xinzo Entroido in memory
• Xinzo de Limia

Sources

1. Xosé Calleja López, «Os sons da máscara do Entroido de Xinzo de Limia (reportaxe fotográfica)», As tradicións da Limia, 14/12/2020. https://tradicionsdalimia.es/os-sons-da-mascara-do-entroido-de-xinzo-de-limia-reportaxe-fotografica/
2. «Os sons da máscara de Xinzo de Limia (segunda parte)», 27/02/2021. https://tradicionsdalimia.es/os-sons-da-mascara-de-xinzo-de-limia-segunda-parte/
3. «Do caso que lle aconteceu á máscara de Xinzo de Limia», 14/06/2021 (cita Vicente Risco, Nós 35, 1926). https://tradicionsdalimia.es/do-caso-que-lle-aconteceu-a-mascara-de-xinzo-de-limia/