FEAST OF THE MAGI OF SALSAS
The masquerades take place between New Year's Day and the feast of the Magi. Every evening, the “caretos” (devilish, traditional creatures) go looking for young girls in the streets and homes, and pretend to “punish” them. They also go round looking for sausages for the party.
The “caretos” enter into scene on New Year's Day. The rest of days before the 6th of January, at dusk, they go around the villages looking for girls. In an atmosphere of total (but somewhat restrained) freedom, imagination runs wild, while they perform the rite of the “cencerrada”, that consists of making noise with cowbells. The night of the Feast of the Magi, a rite called “peditório”, in the name of the souls of the deceased, takes place. The stewards join the “caretos” and look for a group of youth and children that go guising and singing around the village, collecting money, sausages, smoked meat and other traditional products.
After the traditional “peditório” all inhabitants gather in the public facilities of the village for the party. They eat, drink and dance cheerfully; in winter time both the spirit and the body need being liven up.