Observation: "Pagan" influences or traditional customs curiously can lead to Christian ends
Example: Carnaval de Ponce, Puerto Rico
While there are no specific Puerto Rican origins on record for this week (or month) long celebration (depends on your source), it began about 1858 and by 1937 it was adopted by the PR Tourist Company in an effort to boost tourism and patriotism.
Like elsewhere, Carnaval is characterized by all night eating, drinking, parades, floats, music, singing, and Plena dancing in the streets, and general carousing. However, there is one diabolical clown creature amongst the revelers whose intent it is to scare and hit unsuspecting partygoers with his vejiga (what amounts to a balloon or whoopee cushion, but is traditionally a brightly colored inflatable cow or animal bladder)
This Puckish character is the "Vejigante" (literally,giant bladder, [wind bag?] ); adorned and masked to represent evil or the devil, and egged on by the chants of others, such as "Vejigantes a la boya, pan y cebolla". (Preferred colors are often black, red, and yellow, which were sometimes thought to represent hellfire and damnation.)
"Entiero de la Sardina", or the Burial of the Sardine, takes place on “Shrove Tuesday”, and is highlighted by a mock funeral, including a procession through the town and actual burial. It features wailing drag queens and other dramatically tearful mourners --because this marks the end of the festivities, the end of the “flesh”, and the beginning of the 40 days of fasting and abstinence of Lent, which comes down to having to settle for sardines. Needless to say, the last night gets pretty wild. This year the peak of the season runs from March 2-8th.
¡Ya se mu erto el car naval ! Ya lo l levan a enterrar ; échen le poqu ita t ierra qu e se vu elve a levantar
(Carnival is dead now, They are burying him; Throw just a little dirt in So he can rise again.)
photo: http://www.guamanique.com/espanol/galeria-vejigante1.htm
read more about haunted Puerto Rico
http://www.itshaunted.com/forums/topic/1023/puerto-rico-soldiers-of-misfortu/view/post_id/8368
Or about the sexy origins of Carnival: http://www.itshaunted.com/forums/topic/1042/history-gone-wild-episode-1-g
This post was edited by Jo-Anne Penn at February 17, 2011 7:59:45 PM EST