Entroido Ribeirao (Ribeiran Carnival)

This is one of Chantada's most characteristic ethnographic displays. Originally, it was celebrated in a number of the parishes along the banks of the Miño; nowadays the tradition is kept alive in Santiago de Arriba through the Ribeira Sacra Carnival Association.

A splash of colour is provided by “volantes”, this carnival's most characteristic figure, and whose clothing is based principally on a large hat decorated with coloured strips, paper flowers and dolls, weighing up to 15 kg. The outfit is rounded off with a red and yellow waistband, a belt bearing cowbells and a “Portuguese” scarf worn over the shoulders. The figures accompanying them dressed more simply and/or informally, their job being to open the way for the “volantes”, (also referred to as peliqueiros or maragatos and mecos).

Another of the particular features of the celebration are their so-called “trades”: theatrical representations of a satirical nature which make reference to the inhabitants of the village.

Date: starting two weeks before Carnival.