CARNIVAL IN THE HISPANIC CARIBBEAN SOCIETIES

by Raquel Brailowsky Inter American University San GermAn, Puerto Rico

Paper presented in an abridged form at the XVIIIth Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association Kingston and Ocho Rios, Jamaica May 23-30, 1993 CARNIVAL IN THE HISPANIC CARIBBEAN

A Brief Introduction to Carnival Carnival is a total event which integrates all possible festive behavior, often proposed or reinforced by traditions and explained by an infinite number of corresponding justifications. There is a significant literature on carnival which is diverse in nature and in regional distinctions. Studies view the particular event from different perspectives: as a release valve for social, or individual, tensions; as a system of ritual reversals; as a process of resistance to dominant class imperatives, or as a process of social and cultural

revitalization. Carnival provides a time and space for gregarious

behavior. Emotions run loose, and people have a license to ritually react almost without constraints against the forbidden and oppressive circumstances of their daily lives (Bachtin 1968, Burke 1978, Caro Baroja 1965, Da Matta 1986). The total experience is built around strong and worldly emotions which are usually controlled in the continuation of everyday life. It is during carnival that people have a right to certain behavioral licenses which draw upon these suppressed feelings. Bachtin (1968) and Da Matta (1986) demonstrated the 2 importance of laughter, pleasure, the grotesque and the erotic as central components of carnival behavior and themes. Burke (1978) finds that a major theme is aggression, which becomes institutionalized in competitive games but is also evident in the poetic forms of social protest, in open incidences of sexual harassment, and in ritualized class or group hostilities. Caro Baroja (1965) details how social control is reinstated through acts, such as the profuse use of ill- mannered jokes and insults, which project an apparent yet ephemeral social equality. The importance and attraction of carnival rests in its configuration as a total event, that is one in which all types of expressive forms become evident throughout a designated time limit. Carnival includes poetry, plays, dance, songs, games, masquerades, floats, scenography and any other activity the participants may wish to explore. "Carnival may be seen as a huge play in which ... the city became a theater without walls and the inhabitants, the actors and spectators " (Burke 1978:182). The expression of carnival, however configured by historical processes, rests on the idea of the inversion of opposites. The participants, if only for a few hours, would reverse their social roles and positions through their actions, dress and manner. At the end people would return to their established condition and manner in a 3 reaffirmation of the social structure. The chain of events called carnival is compressed into a predefined time frame, longer or shorter depending on each case, usually preceding Lent and its concomitant sacrifice and denial. This sense of time is central. Carnival breaks the temporal sequence of work since it delimits a number of days of full oblivion. Burke calls it "a time of waste" (1978:178). Carnivals performed in an urban context are also free from spatial constraints. All activities take place in the streets and plazas. It is a public event that cannot be contained in the seclusion of the homes, the Church atrium, the community center or the clubhouse. During the days of carnival, the streets, as places of anonymity temporarily devoid of laws, provide the individual with a place for reversals. It is there (or everywhere), that a person can "misbehave" and "waste time". Waste and improper behavior are, of course, elements which cannot be associated with a family and its good name on an everyday basis (Da Matta 1986:15-19).

Carnival in the Hispanic Caribbean Context In the Hispanic Caribbean carnival has been studied in specific locations and in respect to multiple aspects or configurations. Some specially interesting studies are: Ortiz (1940-46) and Perez (1981) in Cuba; Del Castillo and Garcia Arevalo (1987) and Gonzalez (1970) in 4 Dominican Republic; and Vidal (1983) in Puerto Rico.

The three Hispanic Caribbean islands had strong Carnival and Lent traditions. These traditions were never a mirror image of the Spanish forms, but the emotions and creativity can be paralleled as can be paralleled the processes pertinent to the existence of carnival as a social event. Spanish ethnologist Julio Caro Baroja has found that carnival, as a social event, has undergone three changes of magnitude. First, there is the development of carnival within the Medieval Christian ideology, opposing good and evil in a time allotted for each, integrating both public and personal life. This carnival is then transformed by the impact of bourgeois sectarian behavior in the form of restrictive social clubs sequestering the traditionally public creativity into a privately controlled space. And, finally, there is the modern desintegration of carnival in response to the state apparatus bureaucratizing joy and suffering in the form of national events, like sports and local politics.

Considering the widespread popularity of Carnival in Spain, it was only natural that the Spaniards reconstructed as best they could this tradition in the New World. Already in 1526, the Spaniards in the settlement of Caparra, Puerto Rico managed to celebrate

Carnival "...dende el ultimo de Reyes Pasta el miêrcoles de las Cenizas" ("...from the last (day) of Epiphany to 5 Ash Wednesday"). With the aid of friendly Indians they enjoyed themselves by dancing with castanets, their bodies painted with bixa (scientific name: Bixa orellana) and disguised. It seems that an effort was being made to recreate the forms known in the mainland. In this specific case the Spaniards were joined by some friendly Indians in the celebration (Llemens Torres 1969:400). This apparent sign of permissiveness is not a New World adaptation but is a reflection of the way the events were shaped in Spain where the converted blacks and Moors took a prominent part in the activities.

A much different evaluation is presented in' the case of Cuba, by ethnologist Fernando Ortiz who believed that the carnival traditions known in sixteenth century Spain were not readily transplanted to Cuba because the Spaniards, who came from all over Spain, had different traditions according to the region of origin. All these different forms of festive expression did not conform a common festive mode in the colony. So that the first carnival-like expressions rooted in Cuba were associated with Church celebrations, similar to the dances and masquerades the blacks and slaves produced during Corpus Christi and other holidays (Ortiz 1955:250). It was during certain religious days that the cabildos were permitted to dress up according to "African" tradition, and parade around the city performing their music and dances. By the nineteenth 6 century, many mulattoes would disassociate themselves from the cabildos and its distinctive social and religious public activities in an effort to blend into the creole society. At this stage the comparsas became openly defamed and diminished as unwanted examples of African savagery.' In 1884, with the abolition of slavery, the cabildos were prohibited and became either Church cofradlas or mutual aid societies. In the final years of colonial rule the street festive presentations managed to survive as carnival comparsas (troupes). These comparsas should be seen as total events including large numbers of participants masked and disguised in reference to a central theme, sometimes carrying farolas (lanterns), playing drums and other instruments of high resonance, dancing in unison and singing chosen songs and refrains, followed by colorful allegorical floats. The format of these events was discussed, designed and prepared by community groups that would dedicate long hours to practice with the hope of successfully competing against each other. The really spontaneous part of the parades was the ardent participation of the public that would dance, sing and applaud in response to each comparsa. During the first years of republican rule, the comparsas became controlled by the state apparatus which proclaimed a yearly policy determining which groups paraded and the conditions and quality of their presentations; that is, manipulating and reformulating 7 what had previously been activities of popular production. 2 The street celebrations existed juxtaposed to other celebrations centered in the social clubs of the towns and cities. So that, during the first half of this century, carnival often referred to selected events closed to the general public, whose only function was to line the streets to watch the club members parade their queens and attend their dances. Great emphasis was placed on transforming the role of the populace into the passive condition of observers, defining any form of response from the public as an act of confusion or provocation. Even after 1959, when carnival became related to the celebrations of the triumph of the Revolution and was officially called Carnaval de la Libertad (Carnival of Liberty), the events managed to retain elements of popular 3 and of elite (social club) origin. 4 As a contemporary public festivity, carnival "competes" with political mass events which frequently use the elements of carnival to administer joyful, yet patriotic, commemorations. 5 Perhaps, this concise evaluation of the historical transformation of the Cuban carnival, hints at an explanation as to why, in the Hispanic Caribbean nations, the street singing and dancing activities of Carnival are not willingly seen as an element of national identity. The popular aspects of carnival have traditionally been shunned by the upper classes resulting in the rejection by the subservient information media, the government 8 agencies, and the aspiring middle sectors. Three elements are repeatedly intermingled in the diminishing perception of carnival. First, there is a matter of taste so that people either like or dislike mass events. There is also the issue of street violence, strongly associated with the profussed consumption of alcohol during festive occasions and with a general abandonment of the recognized social restraints (DaMatta 1986; Gilmore 1977). And, third, there is also the idea that the local forms of carnival events are associated with the lower class, more specifically with the black population, interests and behavior (Ortiz 1946; Perez 1982). In general, this succinct evaluation of the whole process also holds true for Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. With the difference that in the case of the Dominican Republic, as of late, carnival has been revived as an effective internal and international tourist attraction regardless of the opinion of the elite. In the case of Puerto Rico, carnival has been virtually phased out as a public event.

Characteristics of Carnival The public carnival traditions in the Hispanic Caribbean islands developed around two sets of components throughout the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. On one hand, some activities were openly recognized as pertinent to the upper, European and white population. 9 These were closed social activities held in the administrative halls, where only those associated with the colonial authorities were invited. Often the clubs held closed dances, closed competitions of allegorical disguises and various forms of public competitions, originally, on horseback, and later in carriages, boats, bicycles and motor vehicles, which weaned out the people who could not afford such properties. On the other hand, some carnival activities were truly of a popular nature and were sponsored by the other class of people existing in the Spanish Caribbean colonies: the mulattoes, freed blacks and the slaves. These •people organized masquerades which took to the streets in great numbers on selected religious holidays like Dia de Reyes (Epiphany), San Miguel (Saint Michael), San Juan (Saint John) and others. The core of such occasions were the comparsas which up to now define the carnivals. The comparsas are total events which include a procession of fantastic masks and disguises, street singing and dancing amidst the music of drums, while carrying allegorical lights, and sometimes also including floats. Although the actual "happening" permits great spontaneity from the participating public, the comparsa .itself has to be planned and rehearsed endlessly before the presentation. 1 0 The popularity of carnival, such as the one held in La Habana, rested in the dual distribution of various forms of entertainment for a prolonged period of time. So that the events started the Sunday before Ash Wednesday and continued for several weekends, bypassing the Holy days of fasting, that is Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Each weekend had an ancient origin which justified and distinguished it from the others, giving way to variations in the forms of the events as presented both in the activities for the elite and in the activities for the general public. The first Sunday was

Domingo de Carnaval (Sunday of Carnival); the second Sunday: Domingo de la Piñata (Sunday of the Pitcher Pot representing abundance); the third: Domingo de la Vieja (Sunday of the Old Woman representing Lent); and so on Domingo de Figurin (Sunday of the Fashion-figure or Adonnis); Domingo de la Sardina (Sunday of the Sardine or fish representing the death of Carnival); Domingo de la Pascua, in Cuba also called Domingo de Apendicitis, (Sunday of Resurrection or Easter Sunday which marks the end of Lent and the end of the prohibition on red meat). Each Saturday the municipal administration and the social clubs organized competitions, such as sack races, cockfighting or greased pole climbing, for groups and individuals and private parties for the members and 11 friends. Each Sunday afternoon, the comparsas, displaying their dances, farolas and floats, paraded around the city (Milne 1965:38-39; Ortiz 1955:251-255). These two sets of local traditions often encountered each other. Of course, the colonial administration (as later on the republican administrators would do) permitted or prohibited the activities. On the whole, each social segment observed, marveled at and enjoyed the events presented by the other. There is not one single reference in the relevant literature when both social segments are found to be united in the celebration of carnival. On the contrary the Hispanic Caribbean society is grossly divided into the upper and lower classes and each celebrates its own version of carnival. The acts of celebration by one segment of the society are observed by the other at a distance. The intrusion of individuals from one social segment into the realm of the other social segment, often brought about disgregate behavior, misunderstandings and complaints. .Although, if the intruder was a member of the upper class participating in the open public events of the lower class, the behavior was brushed off as a youthful mischief or, perhaps, a weakness of character. If, on the other hand, the intruder belonged to the lower class his presence in the 12 select upper class activities might be termed an offense or even a crime. The opposition is by rule made evident in a distinguishing external factor such as different colors, different type of horn-formation of the masks, the presence or absence of components of the disguise, the existence of a religious identification of the participants, among other things. Although the presence of opposing groups is evident in many other festive events and is not a unique trait of carnival events, it certainly seems enhanced by other carnival characteristics such as personal anonymity behind masks or among a crowd. In the Dominican Republic, the use of masks and the corresponding disguises of different and opposing colors, distinguishes two neighborhoods within a community. This differentiation, established by tradition, is the reason for the yearly fight between the groups. Often these fights result in physical injuries and sometimes death, as in the case of the fight between los toros y los civiles (the bulls and the civilians) in Monte Christy. 6 The different types of activities at carnival produced rewards of various forms. For example, a dance troupe could receive a monetary compensation from the authorities or a few coins from the general public, or 1 3 a horseman could win the scarf of a certain lady or public applause. But, in the end, the participation in troupes, horse races, cavalcades or other events should be more sensibly measured in the form of intangible rewards such as a sense of belonging or identity, the enjoyment by the individual participants or the public recognition as a distinct group. Within one or the other social segment there was notable competition between individuals or between opposing local groups. Sometimes the opposition referred to troupes established around different leaders, or to different streets or sections of the town, or between townspeople and the rural population, on occasions the opposition was between the authorities and the populace. Despite the multiplicity of clubs or•other groups, the basic distinction was in effect a class structure. The ritualized opposition served to intensify the existing conflicts between the groups, and the classes, for a short period of time, after doing so the group members, and the class members, returned to their separate condition having once more re-defined the system. Playing the game provides the individuals with a distinct social allocation, he or she either belongs or does not belong to a group or to a class. In David Gilmore's words "Such forms of atomistic conflict, if they attain 14 ritualized manifestations, have an integrative effect by helping to forge a group identity among a community of social equals and by enhancing class loyalties" (1977:346-7). It should also be said that masked events serve as an emotional relief valve to peoples who feel oppressed by other groups within the social structure. Already in 1675 the colonial authorities in Cuba prohibited such competitive exhibitions on grounds that the disguised participants ridiculed even the highest authorities, that is the Governor and the Bishop (Ortiz 1955:255). By the end of the Spanish colonial rule in Puerto Rico, things had not changed. On the contrary such disguised expressions of popular discontent became formalized into an elaborate event distinctive of the Dia de San Pedro (Saint Peter's Day). Writer Jose A. DaubOn remembers that on that day a procession consisting of diversely disguised characters visited the authorities and read them a proclamation, written in joking and mocking terms, permitting the festivity as a popular and unrestricted event. This proclamation was, in fact, a defiance of the official restrictions publicly imposed upon the populace the night before festivities such as San Pedro (1904:98- 107). Quite often, in masked events, people enjoy the opportunity of doing things they could not otherwise 15 allow themselves to do or could only do at great personal risk. These emotional outbursts, usually directed at the center of social authority, are one reason why the upper class, that, in fact, is the center of social authority, rejects the free and anonymous popular celebrations of carnival. The underlying class opposition is a constant element in the analysis of carnival. Following the competitive games, by rule performed by men, the ladies wearing their fineries would elegantly parade around town usually in the company of their men.' The parades were either on horseback, as in the case of Puerto Rico, or in carriages, as in the case of Cuba. In the best of all cases, joyful battles of confetti, flowers, eggshells 7 or wax molds filled with perfumed water ensued between the riders and the public observing from the balconies of the houses of the rich. But, the parades of carriages were often seen by the populace watching from the streets as a sign of pretention. So that the objects thrown to the riders were sometimes offensive. Raw or putrid eggs, eggshells filled with flour, and other undesirables were defiantly thrown at the elegant riders (Ortiz 1955: 256). Puerto Rican writer Manuel Fernandez Juncos stated that in 1879 "ha rayado en locura el entusiasmo carnavalesco" ("the enthusiasm of carnival has bordered 16 on madness") (1958:275) with people of all social classes throwing water and other things at each other. He adds "Tiempo es ya... que vayamos corrigiendo esta viciada costumbre" ("It is time... that we amend this vicious custom") (1958:176). Apparently the custom, which had originated as an escape valve for a strictly structured class division, had also become an escape valve from social constraints for the younger generations and for persons of both sexes. During carnival, and with the pretense of the throwing game, everyone approached their opposites in an unrestrained manner considered offensive by the more respectable members of the elite. In the case of Cuba it is obvious that the masked events of the nineteenth century served the creole pro- independence efforts repeatedly, so that the colonial authorities were quite paranoid about their yearly resurgence. For one, the opposing bands of masqueraders were often publicly recognized as azul (blue) and punzit, (red, but the word is also a form of the verb punzar which means to sting or punch). Naturally, in the carnival mock battles, the blue band represented the locals and the red band, the Spaniards. There is also the issue of the disturbing, incisive wording used in the songs and refrains sung during the parades. And finally, there are reports regarding the actual movement of arms, 17 food and information by disguised comparsas in favor of the revolutionaries of the end of the nineteenth and the mid twentieth century. During the nineteenth century, more specifically after the Grito de Yara, there are many instances when the local administrators found it necessary to prohibit the yearly masquerades (Perez 1981; Palacios 1989). Ironically it was also the local administrators who at times saw fit to promote the carnival celebrations for political reasons. In Cuba, after the rebel attack on Moncada in 1953 the Batista government made a concerted effort to stage the carnival celebrations as a way of presenting a happily and effectively integrated society in spite of the political turmoil. So that while many families of Santiago were still mourning their dead, the government was granting generous cash contributions to promote their traditionally famous carnival. This was notably the case in 1956 and 1957, when a few comparsas were pressured into parading as expected but the public, afraid both of the government and rebel forces' reprisal, stayed away (Perez 1981). In this case the government felt capable of structuring a supposedly spontaneous public event as it "should" be, which means that the officials had thought out what the low-class blacks enjoyed and tried to reproduce this as a 18 demonstration of the general public's contentment with the system. Clearly illustrative of the political component of the comparsas were the lyrics, which always brought to the open areas of popular beliefs, ingenuity and, sometimes, deep discontent. The lyrics were short, witty verses, easy to remember. They were usually conceived in two parts, one part was sung out and the other was the public response. Again, at times, these verses were openly used for reasons of social control. In the case of the Santiago carnivals of 1956 and 1957, some of the lyrics were apparently integrated into the parading comparsas by government agents. Since many of the original rebels came from white, middle class families the theme of racism was recurrently used by provokers in an effort to divide the popular opinion. Some of the songs had wording such as "en la guerra de los blancos los negros no saben na" ("the blacks know nothing about the war among the white") and "los blancos pa la loma y los negros pa la conga" ("the white go to the hills (the Sierra Maestra) while the blacks go dancing in the streets) (Perez 1981:98). As can be seen both jingles insisted on the segregation of the low class, considered black, from political participation by using racism as a motive. 19 Social Clubs and Carnival Festivities It was around the mid nineteenth century that carnival took on a different presence in the Hispanic Caribbean islands. By then every major city had social clubs catering the needs of selected segments of the population. Throughout the year, these clubs would produce dances and other social activities for their membership. Originally these clubs had an European membership, then an all-white, either peninsular or island-born membership, but by the late nineteenth century some clubs represented mulattoes, affiliated by occupation. All these clubs produced festive entertainment associated with carnival. They offered private dances closed to anyone but members and their guests, they participated in competitive events such as masked cavalcades or horse races, and they presented comparsas or floats in the parades. In part, the importance of belonging to a certain club laid in a sense of identity, but also in the competitive capacity of a socially representative group, so that the gains attained by an effective representation would be cast upon the individual members. In this way a club representing individuals who would otherwise be left out from the significant social arena might gain recognition, and 20 perhaps fame, by their group's ability to play the games or produce an exceptional troupe at carnival. In a sense the control of the carnival events by the social clubs which, at their core, had a socially divisory policy, was responsible for the demise of carnival as a popular public event. With the recognition and the desire of the population of integrating social clubs, the festive public activity became, by nature, controlled and resolved preferentially by these clubs. The result being that festive activities were taken away from the streets and into the club houses and the dance halls. The free and easy-going festive public exposure slowly became a matter of a few hours and in a notably distant fashion, such as observing a parade of floats, carrying the queens of each city club and public or commercial corporation, pass through the street. The activities which had for centuries been of popular creation, and inviting to dance and song forms of popular manifestation, slowly became privatized under the control of corporate units called social clubs. The control of the carnival festivities by the social clubs is the most distinctive characteristic of the carnivals of this century in the Hispanic Caribbean islands. The process began as a mode of celebration parallel to the street activities of the lower class, 21 slowly gaining importance and finally disintegrating carnival into private costume balls and other club sponsored activities. The scheduling of the festivities by the clubs presented a tight calendar of costume balls and formality, that multiplied as new social entities were established through the course of the century... Each aspired that its queen participate with her court, in at least one event to be held in its salons (Del Castillo and Garcia Arêvalo 1987:25). The description of the carnivals of the Dominican Republic testify to this. In Santiago de los Caballeros since the turn of the century, there were two social clubs, both catering to the upper class; these were the Centro de Recreo and Club Santiago. In addition, various associations of club members were created each year to organize carnival events, especially the masquerades that would roam the streets in elegant costumes, engaging in mock battles of flowers and confetti and competing for prizes in the dance halls. During the carnival season of 1907, the clubs held 32 disguise dances, 2 regular dances and 2 infantile disguise dances. In 1908 the Centro de Recreo selected a queen and the carnival events were designed around a highly protocolarian interpretation of the activities in imitation of the European nobility. This interpretation of carnival resulted from the frequent trips and direct contact by members of the local 22 upper class with the United States and the European countries. The populace did not participate in such carnival celebrations although they organized separate cavalcades and masquerades that filled the streets with activity, a fact that was recognized by the upper class and the press, only as the vulgar and undesirable aspects of the carnival celebrations (Hache 1973:94-96; 1974:65- 66). The same happened in the capital city of Santo Domingo. In the carnival of 1910, for example, since the organizers could not scorn one competing upper class family for another, they finally elected to have two queens, daughters of the illustrious families. The whole event became a succession of sunctuous activities for the elite, such as costume dances, games and competitions, including a boat journey in the Ozama River attended even by the President (Del Castillo and Garcia Arevalo 1987:24; Matos Diaz 1985:109-115). Probably the most elaborate of all the club sponsored carnivals of Santo Domingo was the one held in 1933. "The authorities offered all types of facilities so that the program of festivities would be crowned with success" (Del Castillo and Garcia Arêvalo 1987:31). And so it was that the President of the municipal government ceremoniously handed the queen the keys to the city, after a grand 23 parade which included the mounted garrison of the National Army, the musical band of the National Army, and other such groups. This was followed by a "splendid" dance. The queen was crowned amid all sorts of festivities and royal treatment. And on the 27th of February, the events culminated with a Te Deum in the Cathedral, a formal visit to President Trujillo and the First Lady, a parade of the queen and all her court in the afternoon and a dance in the Casa de Espaha (Spanish House). The next day the President and the First Lady, who had been the Great Protectors of the Reign, attended the queen's house for lunch (1987:31-34). Parallel to the clubs' activities, the street celebrations were carried out in full capacity. For example in the carnival of 1933, during February 18, 19, 25, 26, and 27, multitudes of masked diablos cojuelos (mischievous devils) took to the streets day and night; "In many houses... family carnivalesque dances were held"; "adorned cars and trucks toured the city"; games, races and other competitions were organized; there were nightly concerts at the Parque de Colon (Columbus' Park) and the Parque de Independencia (Independence Park); and "showy fireworks were fired" (1987:34-35). Allied to the divisory condition of the clubs, the government administrations reacted in consonance to this 24 variation. The two most important reasons for this are that the administrators themselves represented the elite, so that they often had personal liaisons with certain clubs and their members. The most notorious example in the Dominican Republic is the year of 1955 when the daughter of Trujillo became the queen of carnival presiding over a most suntuous affair. But, a second and, perhaps, more important reason is that this new concept of carnival, as a segmented event, was more manageable in a growing city. The bigger the city, the larger and more fragmented the population. As an end result the public administrators had to reformulate public policies concerning cultural events such as the expansive or recreational activities of the society. They did so in a manner based on divisions inherent in the social, economic and geographical structures of the society, that is, based on religion, political affiliations, neighborhoods, special interests like sports, music and art appreciation, among many others. They managed, in this manner, the administration of public merriment on a smaller scale. In democratic societies, the social divisions evident in this reformulation of the public expansive activities rest strongly on economic concerns. There is an element of choice in the individual adhesion to an 25 event. For example, in a study of carnival in Santiago de los Caballeros in 1967, Nancie L. Gonzalez finds that the wealthy Dominicans would enthusiastically attend four or five events where a costume was required. Each disguise amounted to an investment of $50 to $100 (1970:332). Obviously, people with low incomes could not participate even if such activities were considered open

to the general public. The same system applies to other

aspects of carnival, such as the selection of the queen A carnival queen is selected by vote each year, supposedly to represent the city. However, the primary social club of the city sponsors the election, and the candidates, although voted on by public ballot, are all daughters of members of the club. In effect, this procedure ensures that a representative of the upper class sectors will be carnival queen. The expense of outfitting the queen, borne by her family, is an additional factor limiting the candidates to the wealthier sectors, of course (1970:332-333). The extent of the surviving carnival activities among the members of the low class in the city are likewise conditioned by economic factors. Men from the low class city neighborhoods participate preferentially in the typically Dominican carnival disguise called the lechones (pigs) or diablos cojuelos (mischievous devils). They are dressed in a long-sleeve jumpsuit of two colors, each on the opposite side of the body from neck to foot, which the men themselves make. They wear a zoomorphic papier mache mask and carry a stick with a dried, painted 26 animal bladder with which they hit passersby and frighten small children. The goal is to tour the streets in groups, playing jokes on the observers and asking the public and the store owners for money or rum. 8 Sometimes they are accompanied by other men playing percussion instruments, like the tambora or giIiro. Also the result of the economic concerns, and the ingenuity, of individual members of the low class is the creation of a carnival-related artistic and commercial product. That is the commercialization of the zoomorphic papier mache masks which are peddled in the streets during carnival but are also sold as souvenirs in the commercial and government tourist centers. But, perhaps, the interest in these masks is also a result of the value the leisure class has accorded them. The masks of the highest quality are seen as art. objects. The best craftsmen compete in a yearly contest organized by a museum during the carnival season. The creations were promptly purchased at good prices by members of the upper-class and foreign audience or were added to the museum's permanent collection. Prizes, donated by business men and industrialists, ranged from $75 for first place to $25 for an honorable mention (Gonzalez 1970:337). The perception of an object of popular creation as an object of art presents many problems. For one thing, the object of art is often created as an artistic piece, 27 that is it is refined to meet the requirements of competition, and not because "their uses were tied up with social life" (Flores 1986:257) as masks to be used in street activities are. Also, the economic value of the prizes has no comparison to the value of the object as an artistic piece; but the granting of a prize transforms the social and economic value of the objects of popular creation produced by the rewarded creator. The object of art is, then, validated by an authority other than the producer. This external authority gains power over the product simply because it imposes a new code of validity abolishing the fundamental validating authority conferred by experience; that is the use of the object as part of the social life of the producer. Further arguments can be developed around this problem, the final reality is that the mask as an art object is not in effect a mask in its practical sense but has been transformed into a commercial product (Flores 1986; Garcia Canclini 1977). The current perception of carnival objects as creations of popular art, validated by the formal cultural structures of society, is evident in the inclusion of such objects in private and museum collections and exhibitions. In September 1978 the Museo del Hombre Dominicano (Museum of the Dominican Man) in 28 Santo Domingo held an exhibit of carnival masks which included 79 masks from different towns and regions of the Dominican Republic and 10 from Puerto Rico. In 1986 photographs, masks from two regions of the Dominican Republic and paintings from Dominican artists were presented in the Art Museum of Oriental Peoples in Moscow in what was seen as a unusual exhibition. These are only two examples among many others. All these activities, both at local and international centers of culture and art, serve as a means of re-evaluation and of preservation of the distinctively carnivalistic paraphernalia. In a sense the events and objects which corresponded to live and vibrant carnival activities are slowly moving inside the museums as they become the material evidence of a past social reality and are then treated as objects of art.

Some Final Commentaries on Carnival

Carnival as a social event has transversed through various notable changes throughout the centuries. The original events transplanted into the Caribbean islands were transformed upon arrival to meet the requirements of a new environment; so that even though the elements of carnival can be traced to the European forms they can not be considered the same, but should be seen as particular 29 adaptations. There is also the matter of the incorporation of indigenous and African symbolic elements in the expressive forms. Carnivals in the Dominican Republic have effectively integrated the presence of the Taino Indians in their troupes. Jose Del Castillo and Manuel Garcia Ardvalo in their book Carnaval en Santo Domingo, describe the troupes or bands of Indians as a very popular and frequent representation.

One of the most interesting features of this group is the recreation of some historical scenes based on episodes of the Spanish conquest of the island and the Indians' resistence to this process (1987:52).

A similar formation is documented by Aretz and Ramon y Rivera in 1963 (p.179) and also included in the book

Almanaque folklOrico dominicano (Dominguez, Castillo and Tejeda 1978: 31, 37). In this case, the authors review the celebration of Independence Day and carnival, which coincides in the Dominican Republic, as observed in the town of San Pedro de Macoris. One popular representation consists of two opposing groups of Indians who use feather ornaments and carry bows and arrows which they use in mock battles against each other. In a sense it is surprising to see how the presence of the Indian peoples vanished centuries ago by the process of the Spanish conquest, has become in the past thirty years or so part of the collective memory of the 30 inhabitants of the Hispanic Caribbean nations. In part

I believe this to be the result of the research work of historians and archaeologists which has influenced the educational systems and the governmental agencies.

The contemporary condition of carnival in the

Hispanic Caribebean nations presents a series of events slowly desintegrating into other forms of public creativity and participation. The results of the "new" arrangements allotted to the carnival season have to be seen in the specific context of each country.

In Cuba, the government has rescued carnival activities as part of a specific political design. The patriotic celebrations coincide with the activities of carnival. As such each activity has benefitted the other in the sense that political activities have become part of the merrymaking related to carnival, incorporating parades with troupes of masqueraders. It can also be said that carnival elements have acquired new meaning but have also benefitted from the governments capacity to mobilize scores of people into the public arena.

In the Dominican Republic, where there is a marked class distinction in the manner of celebration during carnival, there is also a coincidence in the calendar dates since carnival ends on Independence Day. Justifiably, the joyful celebration . of carnival has a strong significance for the Dominicans who still take to the streets in their towns and cities, but also send a representation of the typical local carnival 31 configuration to Santo Domingo for a grand finale. The "traditional" modes of celebration, that is the forms developed throughout the first half of this century, survive although the impact of elitist interests, in the form of specific sectarian formations, and commercialization have produced notable variations in the external aspects of the total event. In Puerto Rico, carnival has been seen since the early nineteenth century as a thing of the past. Its existence is definitely a social construct of the elite, and in fact concerns only the elite. Only in the southern city of Ponce, carnival retains its popular configuration. During the month of February the typical vejigantes and other masked participants and comparsas take to the streets scenifying the traditional, yet modernized, mock battles. But carnival has slowly given way to a parade of motorized floats representing public and commercial entities of local, national and even international precedence. Since the 1970's this event is organized by a committee appointed by the municipality, giving way to a bureaucratization of the whole event. 32

Endnotes

1 . This is what Nancy Perez in her research of the carnival of Santiago calls the "black legend" of carnival. The definition of the comparsa as a savage event is born with the recognition by the colonial administration of the masquerading Negro and mulatto population as the enemy in political and social terms. The masked participants not only openly mocked and played pranks on the elite during the parade but also carried out subversive activities in the confusion of the events (1981). Manuel Palacios Estrada found that during the War of Independence, the Cuban carnival of Santiago served as a space for communication between the rebels and their allies in the city. Some revolutionaries would be so bold as to attend in disguise, presenting political allusions in the form of catchy tunes and short theatrical skits. The government in turn tried to control the situation by placing secret police agents among the masqueraders, and in 1868 even prohibited the use of masks in the carnival (1987).

2. During the first two decades of this century, and under U.S. political control, Cubans favored comparsas and floats depicting the far Orient and exotic places other than Cuba itself or Africa. To the point that in 1913, the municipal government of La Habana prohibited the use of in:truments of African origin and required a marching step instead of the popular forms of rhythmic dances. All this responded to a concerted racist effort to blanquear ("to turn white") 4-he popular expressive forms in imitation of the domina:- : American taste and values (Ortiz 1946:140). Finally, in the carnival of 1937, after a long period of prohibition, the event was again "Cubanized" as a product created for tourist attraction. In so doing, the Cubans themselves were again drawn into a mode of celebration they fully enjoyed.

3 . For example, one of the participating troupes in 1961 was the comparsa Las Bolleras which refers to the women of Lucumi origin who, in the streets of colonial Habana, cooked and sold food to the passersby. This comparsa had been organized by the neighborhood of Los Sitios and rendered a colorful, imaginative participation in the resurrected carnival of 1937 (Roig de Leuchsenring 1946). Even before that, during Spanish rule, the ancestors of this:neighborhood group had integrated the 33 comparsa of the Lucumi nation. By 1961, Las Bolleras had their own locale for practices and parties, where they charged a small admittance fee during the February practices and also sold food and drinks. With this money and a small remittance from the municipality they bought the dance uniforms, equipment and made the farolas for the carnival parades (Alonso 1961).

4. A 1966 report on carnival states "On Sundays, the motorized floats carrying groups of dancers parade up and down the Prado behind the carriage of the Queen of the Carnival and her ladies" (Rodriguez Herrera 1966:26).

5. Post-revolutionary Cuba has five national holidays, all of which are justified in political terms. These are: January 1, Anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution; January 2, Day of Victory Celebration; May 1, International Workers Day; July 26, Anniversary of the Moncada Attack; December 7, Anniversary of the death of Antonio Maceo. There are also eight other commemorations, all of which are motivated by political events or by patriots (Di Perna 1979:12).

6. In Monte Christy, during the afternoons of the carnival season, groups of about 50 men disguise themselves as "bulls". They wear a two-color mameluco, which is a loose long-sleeve jumpsuit divided by each color on one side of the body cut from neck to foot; they hide behind a mask in the shape of a cow with two simple frontal horns, and carry a long whip. The "bulls", upon encountering the "civilians", who are not disguised but who also carry whips, establish a fight with the whips. The group with the higher casualties loses and their adversaries regain the neighborhood (Lizardo Barinas 1973:86-87). The original intent of the fight, then called "game", was to grab the horns of the masks with the whips in this manner revealing the identity of the "bull". As the game has evolved into a dangerous fight, "In some masks the horns have been replaced by ears and the eye openings have been covered by a metal screen to protect the bull from the blows of the whip" (Del Castillo and Garcia Arevalo 1987:48).

7. Writer Jose A. Daubbn remembers that in San Juan, around 1893, "many kitchens" had a basket where empty eggshells were saved throughout the year. During 34 carnival and other festivities they were sold "at a good price" according to whether they were filled with flour, starch, perfumed water, or agua de tuna (water made from the prickly pear cactus, which stains in red). The eggshell was filled through a small orifice at one end then sealed with wax. The eggshells were used by the "colonial aristocracy"; everyone else threw the water straight from a dita (bowl made from a gourd cut in half) or a syringe (1904:57-58). Throwing water in various forms to passersby seemed to have been a popular game on the day of St. Andrew (November 30) in Spanish colonies. Cesar Nicolas Penson wrote a beautiful account of the game in Santo Domingo in 1894 (1978:18-29). He distinguished between jugar culto (high class playing) which was carried out by the members of the traditional and prestigious families and involved a notable business of eggshell production among other forms of producing an "artificial deluge" and the game as played by el vulgo (the common people) which basically focused on a war with water, filled with class oppositions.

8. In the carnival of 1968, Nancie L. Gonzalez, found that all the lechones had a small number tag sewn to their costumes. This number corresponded to a registration effected at the local police station. "It was stated by both the police and other informants that the registration was required because individuals in disguise might commit crimes and their identity would never be known" (336). Supposedly, lechones with no number were subject to arrest. On the other hand, having a registration number protected the lechones from false accusations. It is interesting to note that people disguised in other fashions, usually belonging to the upper classes, did not have to register. So that it seems "that the lower classes, although disguised, are ultimately identifiable" (337).

9. The mask as a merchandise existed already during the mid nineteenth century. Jose A. DaubOn mentions that as a youngster he preferred painting his face since "Las caretas baratas de carton que vendla 'Benito Monge, eran insoportables por el calor que produclan..." ("The cheap paper masks sold by Benito Monge were unbearable because of the heat they produced...") (1904:46).

35 Bibliographical References

Alegria, Josê S. 1938 "Carnaval." CrOnicas frivolas. San Juan: Imprenta Romero. 65-7. 1938 "Fiesta de Reyes." CrOnicas frivolas. San Juan: Imprenta Romero. 115-8.

Alonso, Dora 1961 "La comparsa en sus cuarteles". La Habana: Bohemia: February 19, 53:8:4-6,113.

Bachtin, Mikhail 1974 La cultura popular en la Edad Media y el Renacimiento. Barcelona: Barral. (1968).

Burke, Peter 1983 Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe. New York: Harper and Row. (1978).

Caro Baroja, Julio 1986 El carnaval. Analisis histOrico-cultural. Madrid: Taurus. (1965).

Da Matta, Roberto 1986 "Carnaval as a Cultural Problem: Towards a Theory of Formal Events and Their Magic". Kellogg Institute, Working Paper #79.

DaubOn, Josê A. 1904 "El Dia de Santiago." Cosas de Puerto Rico. San Juan: La Correspondencia. 1904:43-55 (1893). 1904a "Un carnaval en Ballaja." Cosas de Puerto Rico. San Juan: La Correspondencia. 1904:56- 67 (1893). 1904b "Un baile de mascaras." Cosas de Puerto Rico. San Juan: La Correspondencia. 1904:68-82 (1893). 1904c "El Dia de San Juan." Cosas de Puerto Rico. San Juan: La Correspondencia. 1904:83-97 (1893). 1904d "San Pedro." Cosas de Puerto Rico. San Juan: La Correspondencia. 1904:98-107 (1893). 1905 "Las fiestas de Cruz." Cosas de Puerto Rico. San Juan: Boletin Mercantil. 60-4.

36 Del Castillo, Jose and Manuel Garcia Arevalo 1987 Carnaval en Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo: Amigo del Hogar.

Di Perna, Paula 1979 The Complete Travel Guide to Cuba. N.Y.: St. Martin's.

Dominguez, Ivan, Jose Castillo and Dagoberto Tejeda 1978 Almanaaue folklórico dominicano. Santo Domingo: Museo del Hombre Dominicano.

Fernandez Juncos, Manuel 1958 "Las Fiestas de Cruz." Galeria Puertorriquefia. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena. 221-8. (1878). "Las fiestas." Galeria Puertorriguefia. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueha. 271-4. (1878). "El juego del Carnaval." Galeria Puertorriguefia. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquefia. 275-7. (1878).

Flores, Toni 1986 "Art, Folklore, Bureaucracy and Ideology". Dialectical Anthropologist:10:3-4:246-264.

Garcia Canclini, Nestor 1977 Arte popular y sociedad en America Latina. Mexico: Grijaldo 1982 Las culturas norulares en el capitalism°. Mexico: Nueva Imagen. 1987 "Cultura y politica. Nuevos escenarios para America Latina". Caracas: Nueva Sociedad:92:116-130.

Gilmore, David 1977 "Carnival in Fuenmayor: Class Conflict and Social Cohesion in an Andalusian Town". Journal of Anthropological Research:XXX:331- 349.

Gonzalez, Nancie L. 1970 "Social Functions of Carnival in a Dominican City." Southwestern Journal of Anthropology: 26:328-42. 37 Hache, Katingo 1973 "La vida social en Santiago en los anos 1906, 1907 y 1908." Santiago de los Caballeros: Eme Eme:1:6:86-123. 1974 "La vida social en Santiago en los aims 1909, 1910 y 1911." Santiago de los Caballeros: Eme Eme:2:10:63-104.

Lizardo Barinas, Fradique 1973 "Tres aspectos de los "Diablos Cojuelos" en Santo Domingo." Santo Domingo: Boletin del Museo del Hombre Dominicano:Oct.:85-91.

LLorens Torres, Luis 1969 "Carnavales de Puerto Rico." Obras completas. Articulos de Pevistas v Peridldicos. San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena. Vol. III: 400-1.

Matos Diaz, Eduardo 1985 Santo Domingo de aver. vida.costumbres y acontecimientcs. Santo Domingo: Taller.

Milne, Jean 1965 Fiesta Time in Latin America. Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie.

Ortiz, Fernando 1920 "La fiesta afro-cubana del 'Dia de Reyes'." La Habana: Bimestre Cubana:15:5-26. 1954 "Los 'diablitos' negros de Puerto Rico." La fiesta de Santiago ApOstol en Loiza Aldea. Ricardo Alegria. Madrid: Artes Graficas. XIII-XX. 1955 "Los viejos carnavales habaneros." La Habana: Bimestre Cubana:LXX:249-274. 1975 Los Negros esclavos. La Habana: Ciencias Sociales. (1916). 1981 Los bailes v el teatro de los negros en el folklore de Cuba. La Habana: Letras Cubanas. 1951.

Ortiz, Fernando, Ramdin Vasconcelos and others 1940-6 "La comparsas populares del carnaval habanero". La Habana: Estudios Afrocubanos: 5:129-147.

38 Palacios Estrada, Manuel 1987 "El carnaval santiaguero durante la Guerra de los Diez Ahos". Santiago, Del Caribe: 111:10:92-94.

Perez, Nancy 1981 "*Fueron celebrados los carnavales santiagueros en 1957?". Santiago, Santiago: 43:69-105.

Rodriguez Herrera, Mariano 1966 "Carnaval". La Habana: Revolution and Culture:5:26-31.

Vidal, Teodoro 1983 Las caretas de carton del Carnaval de Ponce. San Juan: Alba.