A DAY OF CARNIVAL
If someone asked me how such a small animal like an ant could be the center of a celebration, and if it weren’t because I was able to document it, I would find it hard to explain in a way that seemed believable.
During the traditional carnivals of Laza in Galicia, there is a day that antispeciesist people should pay attention to; it is the day known as “Boralleiro.”
This, like the others, is a day of celebration.
In the morning, people begin to fill the streets dressed in various types of costumes. I found striking the number of people dressed as animals, such as cows, calves, bears, dogs, or lobsters.
The day begins with an activity called the “Farrapada,” a battle in which people gathered in the town square throw rags soaked with water and mud at each other.
I wasn’t surprised to see a dog also covered in mud, since, much to its dismay, some people did not hesitate to involve it. Luckily for the dog, several neighbors managed to get it out of there.
After the mud battle ends, the “Xitanada de Burros” begins, a moment of the day when a small procession dressed as gypsies and led by a donkey parades through the entire town.
During the route, the animal is subjected to a noisy environment, with loud music and shouting, until the person responsible decides to take it back home.
As evening falls and with few hours of sunlight left, you can see men carrying paper or plastic sacks heading to the top of the village. Inside, they carry none other than ants taken from their anthills, which will be sprayed with vinegar and mixed with flour. You might wonder why. The reason is that they will be the grand finale of the celebration: “A Baixada da Morena.”
It consists of descending from the top of the village behind the “Morena” (a person wearing a wooden-carved calf’s head). During the route, the ants are blown onto the crowd using blowers. Sprayed with vinegar, the animals that survive will bite anyone they land on.
In the midst of all this chaos, we see again a donkey carrying a young woman on its back. It is also exposed, surrounded by a crowd, to the ants and the hundreds of people gathered there.
The animal cannot endure the effort and stress it is subjected to, so eventually its legs give out and it falls abruptly to the ground.
Events like this are not unique. In Spain, the exploitation of all kinds of animals in various celebrations, whether carnivals, Christmas, Holy Week, or town patron saint festivals, is very common. In all of them, animals face terrible situations of neglect and abuse.
We must transform our celebrations and stop enjoying them at the expense of the suffering of other animals, regardless of their species. We can perfectly find other ways to have fun that don’t harm anyone.
Work by Animals' View. With photography and text by Eira Do Val.