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The mamuxarro of Unanu (Navarre). Photo credit: Josu Larrinaga Zugadi.

Winter masquerades are a series of complex festive rituals observed in much of western Europe between Christmas, beginning of the year, and the end of Carnival time. These celebrations usually combine communal territoriality or social cohesion, neighbourliness and commensality, obscure rituals (fertility or the rebirth of Nature), somewhat dual emotions in the presence of masked people, and as might be expected, secretly or anonymously organized youth groups. These traditionally take the form of either miscellaneous or modest troupes, characterized by music, uproar, dance, and theatricality. In them, one can observe rowdy, intimidating masked individuals holding whips or similar implements, wild beasts, grotesque figures, critical characters staging everyday scenes of collective life, and even road sweepers.

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