Watercolor artwork "Masks" (2019) by @djei.art22

Artwork: "Masks"
Used materials: watercolor, pencil
Artist: Andrey Lebed / @djei.art22
Year: 2019

In Portugal, masks it's a big and valuable part of their culture. The festival International de Mascara Iberica(Iberican Mask Festival) takes place annually in May.
In the region of Trás-os-Montes between December 25 and 26 you can experience the festas dos rapazes (“festival of the boys”), a coming-of-age ritual where the young, single boys of the villages stir up trouble in a rumpus of costumed wild things. Some say it’s a way of exorcising all the mischief from their systems so they can rise the next morning as men. As you might imagine, young girls are encouraged to lock themselves indoors.

Coinciding with the lead up to lent, and also with Portugal’s carnival, is another series of weird and wonderful traditional festivals: the Carnaval dos Caretos de Podence, for example, or the Entrudo de Lazarim, both in the country’s far north. The costumes at each are unique. A “careto” is a character usually dressed in a suit of shaggy red, yellow and green fringing with a leather or metal mask. In Lazarim a handful of local craftsman are responsible for carving wooden masks, sometimes horned and demonic, sometimes laughing caricatures of public figures. These carefully hand-wrought pieces often become heirlooms passed down from generation to generation.
Sourse

See you soon.

Sincerely yours,
Andrey Lebed