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Europe’s first carnival of 2016 kicks off with crazy costumes in Spain

La Vijanera carnival took place in Spain on the first Sunday of January as thousands of people gathered in the Cantabrian town of Silió to bid farewell to winter.

Europe's first carnival of 2016 kicks off with crazy costumes in Spain
Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP

Europe's first festival of the year features around 60 participants (all male) performing in different scenes with the aim of banishing the last year and making way for the new year. 


Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP


Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP

La Vijanera dates from pre-Roman times and celebrates the end of winter and changing of the seasons with a cast of wacky characters including the Madame (la Madama), the Gentleman (el Caballero), the Doctor (el Médico) and the Old Woman (la Vieja).


Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP

Some of the most famous participants are the Zarramacos, who dress in sheepskin and wear tall, conical hats (shown above). They jingle cowbells which are tied to their bodies to ward off evil spirits from the coming year.


Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP

One of the main characters is the bear (El Oso), a youngster dressed in sheep skin who symbolizes winter. The celebrations end with the symbolic killing of the bear marking the end of winter and the ushering in of spring.


Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP


Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP


Photo: Cesar Manso/AFP

 

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FESTIVAL

France’s Fête de la musique ‘will go ahead, with masks and a curfew’

France's famous summer music festival the Fête de la musique will go ahead, but with health restrictions in place, says the culture minister.

France's Fête de la musique 'will go ahead, with masks and a curfew'
Photo: ABDULMONAM EASSA / AFP

Culture minister Roselyn Bachelot, taking part in a Q&A session with readers of French newspaper le Parisien, confirmed that the annual summer festival will go ahead this year on its usual date of June 21st.

The festival date is normally marked with thousands of events across France, from concerts in tiny villages to huge open-air events in big cities and street-corner gigs in local neighbourhoods.

Last year the festival did go ahead, in a scaled-down way, and Bachelot confirmed that the 2021 event will also happen, but with restrictions.

She said: “It will be held on 21st June and will not be subject to the health passport.

“People will be able to dance, but it will be a masked party with an 11pm curfew.”

Under France’s phased reopening plan, larger events will be allowed again from June 9th, but some of them will require a health passport (with either a vaccination certificate or a recent negative test) to enter.

The Fête de la musique, however, is generally focused around lots of smaller neighbourhood concerts.

The curfew is being gradually moved back throughout the summer before – if the health situation permits – being scrapped entirely on June 30th.

Bachelot added: “I appeal to everyone’s responsibility.

“The rate of 50 percent of people vaccinated should have been reached by then, so we will reach an important level of immunity.”

The Fête de la musique is normally France’s biggest street party, with up to 18,000 events taking place across the country on the same day.

It’s hugely popular, despite being (whisper it) the idea of an American – the concept is the brainchild of American Joel Cohen, when he was working as a music producer for French National Radio (France Musique) in the 1970s.

By 1982 the French government put its weight behind the idea and made it an official event and it’s been a fixture in the calendar ever since. 

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