Careto

The careto is a young masked man in the carnival tradition from Northeastern Portugal, namely in the village of Podence in Macedo de Cavaleiros municipality. Caretos are masked young man in a suit made of green, red and yellow tatters, with a wooden mask and clappers in the belt.
The clappers are used to jingle at passing people, if it is a woman, a group of caretos jingles gently at the girl, if it is a man, he jingles aggressively and occasionally hunting the person.
The careto's origin lies in an ancient Celtic tradition, thus pre-Roman, and it marks the end of the winter and the arrival of the heat and sunny days, thus better crops.
==External links==
*Careto´s article Article by Cátia Pinheiro in Accessible Travel Magazine, February 2007
*Carnival of Podence (in Portuguese)
*Endless energy of the Caretos (in Portuguese)
Category:Carnivals
Category:Portugal