Carnival in the Dominican Republic

Carnival is thought to be a semantic derivative of 'carne vale' - a farewell to meat, heralding the traditional fasting of the Lenten period. República Dominicana was the first place in the Americas to observe the pre-Lenten carnival custom. The celebrations became an escape of the pressures and rigidity of religious tradition. By the late 1700's carnival had become a major celebration. Then, when Dominican Republic won their independence February 27, 1844, the celebration evolved to encompass the Independence Day commemorations as well. Beginning the traditional carnival with the pre-Lenten celebrations, the climax concludes with the Independence Day observances. Combining both celebrations and making the entire month of February a celebration and time for enjoyment.

In The Dominican Republic, carnival is expressed differently throughout the different regions of the country. Each community adds its own particular flavor to the celebrations. However, most towns have a parade with groups of people dressed in the same colors or wearing the same costumes, some may be in floats, or they may wear masks and represent various allegorical characters.

In many of the towns, the tradition may include devils chasing spectators when they venture across their paths. The devils playfully tap celebrants with their traditional vejigas. The local version of the ever present anthropomorphic devil, is El Diablo Cojuelo. It has been suggested this character might be a referent stemming from Spanish literature, specifically from the novel, "Don Quijote" by Miguel de Cervantes, where a character appears described as a devil dressed in a costume with mirrors and bells and who carries an inflated animal bladder (the vejigas) as his weapon.

Now ordinarily I wouldn't take kindly to strangers smacking me, but today it's Carnival and we are standing in the streets of La Vega, getting in the spirit. And in this small Dominican town nestled in the Cibao valley, the Carnival spirit is definitely different.

The town divides into punishers and sinners. The punishers are those who parade, attired in endless variations of brilliant homemade devil costumes, and who arbitrarily spank unsuspecting sinners. The sinners are us --- the spectators who line the parade route and scream with nervous laughter. So I'm standing, tourist-curious in the crowd while loudspeakers blast jumpy merengue music. The parade boasts a seemingly endless supply of devils who march down the street in both directions at once and who unexpectedly dart out of line to mete out justice. Devils in gaudy red costumes lined with jingle bells, feather-lined purple pantsuits, satanic black robes, devils draped with tin cans, snakes, fake human heads. All the devils wear huge papier mache masks that sport real animal teeth and have wide leering mouths, bovine nostrils and horns that jut out from the forehead curiously making all these devils look like cows.

The vejigas are a balloon type weapon dangling at the end of a strap, toted by these wicked creatures. These balls are traditionally made of either cow or pig bladders and filled with air. They are also sometimes made of rubber these days. It is said that getting hit brings good luck.

I may be just another jaded Americano, but I think it is luckier if you can avoid being hit!

Tom